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There’s a sense of relief over “flood relief” efforts in the city of Burlington tonight. Monday afternoon, the province announced a two for one deal — two dollars in provincial money for every one dollar raised for victims of the record flooding that hit the area in August.
Officials say it’s some good news they had been waiting for.
When 191 millimetres of rain fell in a few hours last August flooding homes and roads in Burlington, the community quickly got to work helping each other and raising money.
They raised over 800 thousand dollars in cash and today, the province said it would pitch in millions to help out as well.
Halton MPP Indira Naidoo-Harris: “We are pleased to say today that our government will be providing up to three million dollars in funding under the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program.”
That’s means the 800,000 already raised by the city and it’s residents will grow by 1.6 million in provincial funds, for a total of 2.4 million at this point for people who found themselves with inadequate insurance.
MPP Naidoo-Harris: “It’s great news there were a lot of people who were really hard hit by this flooding and could use the assistance and support.”
On August 4th, two months worth of rain pummelled the area in just a few hours. It left many roads impassable, cars almost completely submerged.
3,100 homes were damaged. Over 82 million dollars in insured claims have been submitted but many others were left with a hefty bill after finding out they were not fully covered.
Some were left with more than $100,000 in damages and only $10,000 of insurance.
City officials have been pushing for disaster relief funds for months and today it all paid off.
Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring: “We’ve worked very, very hard in the community to raise the money to raise the awareness, in my view we gave the province nowhere to go on this, they had to come good and they did.”
With a little help from Ron Foxcroft of the Burlington Community Foundation. In a quintessentially Hamilton way of doing business, he helped seal the deal at a Tiger-Cats game he attended with the Premier.
Ron Foxcroft: “Yes we did have a little quiet chat with the Premier and she got it, she understood the tragedy we had here on August fourth.”
And residents who lived that tragedy “get it” too.
Glenn Nicholson, held a fundraiser: “It’s fantastic. Our whole community came together to run a little fundraiser in our community and now that money’s been matched two to one.”
The city is still fundraising. People have until this Friday to make donations that will be doubled up by the province.
Residents effected must fill out applications for funds before December 15th.
The application is available by phone at 905-639-0744 ext 221 or information can be found on the Burlington Community Foundation website.
Additional video: News Now coverage of the funding announcement:
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