Financial assistance available for British Columbians affected by flooding, government says

Financial assistance available for British Columbians affected by flooding, government says
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Flood waters in the Cowichan Valley.

The provincial government says financial assistance is now available for British Columbians affected by overland flooding from the heavy rains that began on Jan. 31.

Heavy rains that began Thursday and didn’t let up until Saturday led to flooding in the Capital Regional District, Cowichan Valley and Nanaimo. A local state of emergency was declared in the Cowichan Valley Regional District due to the flooding.

There was also an evacuation order for the Crofton/Westholme area of North Cowichan but that was rescinded on Feb. 2. 

Disaster Financial Assistance is available for eligible B.C. residents in the following regions:

  • Capital Regional District
  • Cowichan Valley Regional District
  • Regional District of Nanaimo
  • Greater Vancouver Regional District
  • Fraser Valley Regional District
  • Squamish Lillooet Regional District
  • Sunshine Coast Regional District

First Nations, electoral areas and municipalities that are in those regional districts can apply for DFA.

The government said Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA) is available to homeowners, residential tenants, small business owners, farmers, charitable organizations and local government bodies who were unable to obtain insurance to cover flooding losses.

The Regional District of Nanaimo said all applicants for DFA should first check with their insurance to see if their policy provides coverage. As part of the DFA qualification process, the applicant’s insurer will be asked to provide a letter indicating that the applicant could not have purchased insurance to cover these disaster-related losses.

Applications for this flooding event must be submitted to Emergency Management BC (EMBC) by April 4, 2020.

The DFA application can be found here. 

With files from The Canadian Press

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