The Boundary Flood Recovery Team is transitioning from flood recovery to flood mitigation. This after funding and support from local government and support organizations has helped local residents and businesses recover from catastrophic flooding for the last 14 months.
Deputy Flood Recovery Manager Chris Marsh explains:
“So there are items that we would consider ‘response from the flood’ that we have been working on ever since the flood happened. Recovery is something that we know will take many many years, and it’s by no means finished, but at some point we really need to stop looking at the event that happened in the past and start making sure that we’re prepared….”
Marsh says some temporary-flood recovery staff are returning to their original roles or undertaking new ones:
“Those folks are now completing a lot of their projects, in some cases their funding is complete, and in other cases their workload has just diminished to the point where they’re not needed full-time anymore so a transition at this point makes sense.”
Many recovery activities such as providing support to small business partners where possible, and starting immediate housing recovery programs, are complete. Many mitigation projects are linked to the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund that was applied for back in January. It was announced last week that over 53 million dollars in support is being provided to aid in mitigation projects. Marsh says the community will still be invited to flood-related community meetings moving forwards, but didn’t have any exact information, adding that their website will continue to be updated. He thanks the community for their support and and resilience over the last year.