The Minister of Municipal Affairs is in town and touring the flood damage.
Doug Griffiths says the province doen’t just visit hot spots like Calgary, they know the flooding here was a challenge.
“It did a lot of devastation to a lot of the critical infrastructure,” he continues, “critical infrastructure is often seen as roads and bridges but its also those important things like community recreation infrastructure that makes a community great.”
He’ll visit places like Keyano College, Heritage Park and municipal roads.
He says, “lots of people don’t realize how a road can look just fine, but the damage can be underneath, and we got to make sure its not just going to be safe for the next few weeks, but it’s safe for the long term,” he adds, “as well as the [Firebag River] bridge, because we know that was some pretty remarkable damage.”
Mayor Melissa Blake says there have already been some applications for the Disaster Recovery Program, and she estimates up to 20 residents saw damages that will either be covered by their insurance or the program.
Griffiths says it’s not about the number of houses impacted, “it’s about the family that was impacted, because it means just as much to them as if the entire community was wiped out and had to be rebuilt.”
July 3rd, 2013
