[Dion]

Arbitration granted to High River flood victims

Judge tells province to submit to arbitrated settlements for Hampton Hills and Sunrise homeowners

Residents living in one of the communities hit hardest by the June floods say a court ruling is a small victory in their bid to get fair compensation from the province.

For several months the province has been avoiding arbitration with residents in High River who say their homes were sacrificed to save other parts of the town south of Calgary.

Berms were built around Hampton Hills and Sunrise to contain the water, and more water was pumped in from other communities. Residents were kept away from their homes for close to a month, which made it difficult to rebuild with mould and other health concerns.

"The legal advice that we received was that in these unique circumstances the law of Alberta obligated the province to compensate us for the damage their actions caused us for [being] sacrificed — which is what was said on the tape — we were sacrificed to save other areas," she said.

"We had to sacrifice your area to try and get the other ones de-watered," Darwin Durnie, who was hired by the province to manage emergency flood operations in High River, said to the gathered crowd.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...tims-1.2458574