B.C. announces flood mitigation funding for Vancouver Island

COMOX, B.C. — Two communities on Vancouver Island will get their piece of more than $8.5 million in provincial funds, which will go towards structural flood mitigation projects to increase emergency preparedness.

The funds were approved through the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund’s structural flood mitigation stream, targeting projects to prevent, eliminate or reduce the impacts of flood hazards.

Some of the first projects going forward will be an erosion protection project proposed by the K’omoks First Nation, costing $472,000. Zeballos will receive $750,000 for debris flow and flood hazard mitigation.

Since the September 2017 Budget Update, communities and governments throughout B.C. have received more than $60 million through the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund. Successful applicants came from all across the province.

“This program illustrates collaboration at its best,” said Mike Farnworth, minister of public safety, in a statement. “The benefit of a funding program like this one is that it directly responds to the needs communities identify as important to mitigating flood risk.”

The flood funding was first announced at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in September 2017. It is part of a $69.5-million plan intended to assist communities’ ability to respond to disasters.

“The foreshore erosion protection project is a great example of how we can work with nature to protect valuable sites,” said Ronna-Rae Leonard, MLA for Courtenay-Comox. “This support will help make the K’omoks community more secure and our shoreline more resilient to storms, tides and erosion.”