It has been four months since the town of Princeton, B.C., flooded and recovery efforts are still ongoing.
Over 200 people applied for flood recovery funding but not all the applicants were flood victims or even from the town.
“What we found when we went through the list is some of the applicants were outside the evacuation order area and we did have a handful of applicants that were completely outside town boundaries,” said James Graham, the director of finance for the town of Princeton.
The money was raised through the Community Foundation of the South Okanagan Similkameen, which says it’s not unusual to receive incorrect applications.
“It’s kind of typical. It’s not unusual for when there is money available for people to check and see if they can get some. Which is why as a foundation, whether it is a grant application, application for emergency funding, we always have highly vetted processes to make sure those things are handled properly,” said Aaron McRann, executive director of the Community Foundation of the South Okanagan Similkameen.
“In this case, the town of Princeton was the best choice for vetting those applications because they know those people, they know the community and they know where the damage happened.”
The organization said they raised close to one million dollars and the majority of those funds have been distributed to approved applicants.
“We’ve so far sent out about $2,000 to roughly 175 to 200 individuals. And there will be another payment going out in the next month or so. And then there will be some leftover to continue supporting those victims who’ve been registered and approved for funding,” said McRann.
Although applications are now closed for funding, but some Princeton residents are still in need of financial help.
“Say it’s a million dollars and 200 people get money, that is $5,000 each and that doesn’t go very far,” said McRann.
“It seems like a lot of money but it’s not. We’ve all moved on, there’s a new crisis, there is the war in Ukraine, there are a million other things but people in Princeton still aren’t in their homes. There’s a long road to recovery for Princeton.”
The town is still hoping for additional government funding to help support flood recovery efforts.
“Really relying on the provincial government to come through with some of that $5 billion so we can at least reduce that deficit if not completely eliminate it so that the residents of the town are not unduly punished by having a flood go through their town,” said James Graham.