Insurance experts and municipal leaders are welcoming B.C.’s new flood strategy, but they also find room for improvement.
“In different areas, we have different understandings of the flood risk we face, ” he said. “Why has it been so difficult? It’s because it can fall on different levels of government. Different levels of government have different abilities to resource .” Experts expect flooding to increase with climate change and B.C. has the third-highest risk, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz said the new flood strategy will help some communities “sleep better at night” because it is addressing some weak points.Merritt, along with nearby Princeton and more distant Abbotsford in the Fraser Valley, experienced catastrophic flooding in the fall of 2021 following a series of atmospheric rivers. In the case of Merritt, the Coldwater River caused damages of around $150 million after it had breached local dikes, forcing the evacuation of 7,000 residents.
“Funding is key,” Goetz said, who last May complained to federal legislators about the pace of federal support, but also jurisdictional disputes between provincial and federal authorities.