Merritt fears losing fed funding for dikes as it waits for B.C. money

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Work on rebuilding a key diking system that protects more than 1,200 properties in Merritt has stalled without provincial funding for land acquisition.

The city’s director of flood recovery and mitigation, Sean Strang, said the federal government agreed to contribute $46.5 million to reconstruct about three kilometres of dikes on both sides of the Coldwater River, but the work can’t start until the province provides another $21.7 million to buy out private land needed for the upgrades. He’s worried the federal money will disappear after the recent B.C. budget didn’t promise funds.

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Merritt’s dike system was severely damaged by a series of massive rainstorms in November 2021, allowing water to flood 650 properties. In the two years since then, the city has rebuilt much of its infrastructure. But without adequate dikes, it’s actually more at risk of a flood than before 2021.

During a big rainstorm at the end of January, Strang watched as water began flowing down Canford Avenue. The water receded before causing damage.

“We will flood again,” he said. “It’s not if, it’s when.”

Strang said Merritt’s diking system was built in the 1970s and upgraded in the 1990s. Previous engineering models predicted about 130 properties would be inundated in a 1-in-200-year flood. That estimate has since increased to 1,270 properties in that flood scenario.

Those numbers make managed retreat almost impossible. The city has come up with a plan to acquire about 30 properties along the dikes, which will be rebuilt both higher and wider.

Because the dikes can’t be rebuilt until the property is acquired, Strang said the entire project remains on hold until the province provides the money for land acquisition.

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“What’s maddening is that this is the final piece,” said Strang. “Otherwise, nothing gets built.”

He said Merritt is expecting to receive the federal money through disaster financial assistance arrangements with the Canadian government. The program is only available to the province for rebuilding pre-existing infrastructure destroyed in a major disaster. B.C. funnels the money to communities doing the work.

Strang said Merritt has been working with provincial and federal officials to qualify for the funding, particularly since replacing the old dikes wouldn’t be sufficient to prevent a “severe public safety risk.” The reconstructed dikes need to be designed for a 300 per cent higher flow rate.

The city is worried that if the province doesn’t provide money for land acquisition, it will lose the federal funding. Generally, projects must be completed within five years of the disaster to qualify for the federal money.

“If we start construction now, we’ll barely get it done in time,” said Strang.

Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz said he’s asked Premier David Eby, Land, Water and Resources Minister Nathan Cullen and Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma for a meeting to discuss the omission of Merritt from the provincial budget.

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“We expressed our desire to meet wherever is most convenient, as soon as possible, and we are waiting for a response,” he said in a statement.

In a statement, the Emergency Management Ministry said it hasn’t “been notified of any approved federal funding for Merritt requiring provincial funding to proceed.” It didn’t address the land acquisition issue in the statement.

“Decisions around funding made by the federal government will help inform how the province can best support the City of Merritt,” said the statement.

gluymes@postmedia.com

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