Regina city council voted unanimously in favour of applying for the provincial disaster assistance program (PDAP) aimed at helping those impacted by the heavy rain that fell on the Queen City about two weeks ago.
The decision was made at Wednesday’s council meeting.
The rain caused extensive damage to a number of homes in neighbourhoods across the city on June 11. According to the City of Regina, about 50 to 70 millimetres of rain fell between 7 and 9 a.m.
Nearly 300 service requests were called into the city as of June 17, while the Regina fire water rescue team conducted at least four water rescues from vehicles becoming trapped in flooded roadways.
An application for PDAP will be made to Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety.
“Due to a heavy rainfall event on June 11, 2021, there have been several confirmed cases of basement seepage/flooding,” the city manager’s office wrote in its report council.
“A quick review of the initial reports has indicated that estimated losses will exceed the threshold of $5,000 for an individual submission or $25,000 for collective/community submissions.
“It is expected that further claims will arise over the coming days and weeks.”
The report said the program would allow the impacted residents the opportunity to recover costs of uninsurable damage. It may also allow for the city to be eligible to recover costs from any damage to municipal infrastructure caused by the heavy rainfall.
During the meeting Wednesday, Kim Onrait, the City of Regina’s citizen services executive director, said no city infrastructure was damaged during the rainfall, but it’s continuing to investigate.
Regina council has supported two previous PDAP applications due to heavy rainfall, once in 2014 and once in 2015.
Eligibility requirements for PDAP can be found on the Saskatchewan website.
The city does have a long-term plan in place to address storm flooding with infrastructure improvements being made in North Central at a cost of $15 million over the next three years.
The improvements will impact about 450 homes.
More than $200 million has been and is being spent by the city on the McCarthy Boulevard pumping station, along with its wastewater treatment plant.
More to come.
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