Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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Plan in place to compensate High River residents for the 1,900+ doors that were kicked in.
Quote:
The Town of High River, the province, and the RCMP now have a plan in place to compensate the residents of the community who suffered damage to their home during a search after June’s flooding.
As the flood waters forced the evacuation of the community south of Calgary, RCMP members forced entry into locked homes, kicking down doors and breaking windows to search them.
Now, residents will be compensated for the damage to their homes, with the repair money coming from the province’s disaster recovery program.
The 305 cabins at a popular resort community east of Calgary face condemnation — and no flood relief — in the wake of the great June floods, leaving vacation property owners out tens of millions of dollars. Gary Nason, president of the Hidden Valley Golf Resort board of directors, said cottage owners are fuming because they aren’t entitled to the same disaster aid as many other southern Albertans.
However, that funding is available only to people whose primary dwelling was damaged by the historic June deluge.
“It was an extension of my home,” he said. “My children were raised out there. It was not a luxury, it was part of our life.
I bet these people are those inner city dwellers looking for a piece of heaven that those in the suburbs already have....
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Captain James P. DeCOSTE, CD, 18 Sep 1993
I bet these people are those inner city dwellers looking for a piece of heaven that those in the suburbs already have....
I'll take that bet anyday. My parents used to have a place out there so I knew quite a few people out there, and Hidden Valley is no Kelowna. The demographic is very different than what you think.
I don't think they should be paid back, in part because it's a second place, but mostly because they were within 12 months of losing those places anyway, most of those homes weren't worth transporting elsewhere.
But some of losers on here don't have to be so callous about people who have had their homes (albeit 2nd) and a pile of memories destroyed.
Sounds alot like misery loves company to me.
EDIT: not just directed at who I replied to, mostly H-C actually.
Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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Why the DRP program isn't working. Some pictures of a good friends home and business in High River who is currently battling with the govt's DRP. Govt not living up to it's promises.
Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackArcher101
In this case a picture doesn't speak a thousand words. What's the story?
The DRP program is supposted to pay for a full rebuild based on the construction cost per square footage. In this case the foundation has sunk and the house needs to be bulldozed and rebuilt. Based on the dollars per square footage it would come out to a bit over $153,000. The govt is only going to give them $48,000 to rebuild.
Add to the fact they haven't seen any of the money the govt says they should get and have no clue how long the appeal will take. Winter is coming and the uncertainty is causing a lot of stress. That and Ron is now cutting hair in his garage.
Forgot to add that the extended part of the house was his barber shop.
The DRP program is supposted to pay for a full rebuild based on the construction cost per square footage. In this case the foundation has sunk and the house needs to be bulldozed and rebuilt. Based on the dollars per square footage it would come out to a bit over $153,000. The govt is only going to give them $48,000 to rebuild.
Add to the fact they haven't seen any of the money the govt says they should get and have no clue how long the appeal will take. Winter is coming and the uncertainty is causing a lot of stress. That and Ron is now cutting hair in his garage.
Forgot to add that the extended part of the house was his barber shop.
I might be wrong but I believe commercial insurance would have covered the portion of the house that he uses for his business. It is only residential home insurance that doesn't/won't cover overland flooding. $48k/150k might be the portion that he lives in versus the business.
If he had the option to get insurance and chose not to, then, while it appears he made a financial mistake, it certainly isn't up to the Alberta Government to make him whole again.
Has anyone had to deal with the DRP funding in regards to a basement suite? It seems my basement is some what in application limbo. A "second kitchen/bathroom" doesn't qualify as a necessity for the homeowner yet the nominal rent I collect doesn't total 20% of my income to qualify as a "small business".
I don't want to play the this-really-hurts-the-rental-market card but if basement suites aren't at all covered this could put extra strain on the rental market.
Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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Flooded High River neighbourhood to be returned to natural state.
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High River’s mayor announced Monday the town plans to return Wallaceville — one of the hardest-hit neighbourhoods in the June floods — to an undeveloped state.
Town council began exploring options to return the neighbourhood to an undeveloped state in November. Doing so would require the town to sidestep the province’s flood buyout process and remove all houses on the land.
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The town had considered building a 3.2-metre-high berm to protecting the neighbourhood from future flooding. But the town’s head engineer has since called the feasibility of that plan “questionable.”
Instead, the town plans to remove all development in Wallaceville, widen the river channel and eliminate the choke point in the river.
The demolition of Wallaceville will affect 107 residential and commercial buildings, according to a town spokesperson. That includes a 42-unit condo building.
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In a statement, Rick Fraser, the associate minister of recovery and reconstruction for High River, said returning the neighbourhood to its natural state was “really the only option” for the town, which has the full support of the province.
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It’s unclear how the town plans to relocate residents in Wallaceville. Details on a “property purchase program” are still being finalized and will be made available in the New Year.
Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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Arbitration granted to High River flood victims
Judge tells province to submit to arbitrated settlements for Hampton Hills and Sunrise homeowners
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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.
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"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.
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"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.
Forecast failure: How flood warnings came too late for southern Albertans
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Shortly after that warning (high streamflow) was issued Wednesday afternoon, renowned hydrologist John Pomeroy questioned the forecast section’s judgment in an email to a colleague.
The first in a chain of messages that was later forwarded to the province and then released in response to the Herald’s FOIP request, it showed at least one expert spotted the impending disaster much sooner than the province’s forecast team.
“(They) just issued a high streamflow advisory, but not a flood watch,” Pomeroy wrote.
"I see a screwup coming."
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“Alberta had a reputation for first-class forecasting,” said Pomeroy, “but we had a response this time that was reminiscent of what you would expect in a developing country.”
__________________ "In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil's might / Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
It sounds like there is an info session tonight at Hillhurst community center for anyone who has questions or looking for any kind of info.
As far as I can tell, as far as mitigating the bow river goes, all they have done and have planned so far is to shore up where the flood eroded the sides (near prince's island and about 12st NW, and a couple other spots) but nothing else. If I have time I'll go ask if that's true.
It sounds like there is an info session tonight at Hillhurst community center for anyone who has questions or looking for any kind of info.
As far as I can tell, as far as mitigating the bow river goes, all they have done and have planned so far is to shore up where the flood eroded the sides (near prince's island and about 12st NW, and a couple other spots) but nothing else. If I have time I'll go ask if that's true.
Yup, that and they have fully automated the storm sewer gates in Sunnyside. But all that would do is stop that secondary flood that occurred from happening again, gates were full open when the initial flood hit but the storm sewer system was completely overwhelmed and backed up into much of east Sunnyside.
The only thing that is going to help with that issue is upgrading the storm sewers and upstream mitigation on the Bow so that storm runoff has somewhere to go as it comes down the hill to the river.
With this ridiculous winter, I'm worried we're being set up for a repeat this year. Hopefully we don't get some derp storm system stuck at the mountains again this year, because there's already going to be a ton of melt.
We have a had a cold winter, and lots of snow early in Calgary, but from a run off perspective, all that I have read is that so far 13-14 is setting up to be average from a runoff perspective.
