Vernon and Lumby are pooling more than $9.1 million from the federal and provincial governments and their municipal coffers to improve the communities' resilience against floods.
Vernon-Monashee MLA Harwinder Sandhu, Vernon Mayor Victor Cumming and Lumby councillor Randy Ostafichuk announced the funding Thursday in front of Vernon Creek off 43rd Street, where the sound of buzzing saws and idling trucks signalled that work has already begun to replace the 43rd Street crossing upstream of the Vernon Water Reclamation Centre with a clear span bridge, which will widen the channel to increase capacity while safeguarding the creek's embankments and fish habitat.
The crossing replacement will protect the reclamation centre from recurring floods. It will also protect six residential roads and about 50 properties from flooding.
In Lumby, the funding will provide for the construction of more than 900 metres of dikes. A 460-metre setback dike will be built on the right bank of Duteau Creek, and a 477-metre waterside dike will be constructed on the right bank of Bessette Creek. Affected floodplains will also be restored as part of the project. The dikes will provide flood protection at critical areas in the community that have historically experienced flooding.
"Communities across Canada need new infrastructure that will make our communities more resilient in the world impacted by climate-related events such as storms, floods and wildfires," Cumming said. "This means planning ahead and building much more resilient roads, bridges, water treatment facilities and much, much more.
"The projects in Vernon and Lumby will strengthen flood resilience in the areas that are susceptible to flooding and help to mitigate the impacts of (flooding) if it occurs," Cumming continued. "They will safeguard homes, livelihoods and other community infrastructure while working to preserve the natural landscape that the Okanagan is known for."
Cumming said the 43rd Street crossing is currently a "bottleneck," and in years when the spring freshet is high, the area gets flooded when Vernon Creek breaches its banks.
Sandhu spoke on behalf of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Bowinn Ma, and expressed some of the anxieties the local area has around spring freshet season.
"Every spring we look cautiously at our rivers and creeks and keep our fingers crossed so they don't overflow their banks," Sandhu said.
Sandhu said two weeks ago, she took part in a town hall meeting with Lumby Mayor Kevin Acton and other village staff to hear residents' concerns about flooding.
"Many residents (in Lumby) get impacted by ongoing flooding, and when summer arrives, our thoughts turn to the dual threats of extreme heat and wildfires, "Sandhu said. "It's very important that we are better prepared."
Ostafichuk said small communities such as Lumby suffer from the same effects of climate change as other larger urban centres in B.C., the difference being that they have much fewer resources of their own with which to contend with these climate-related events. For that reason, he was thankful for the contributions made to the village by all levels of government.
"In the past 10 years we've seen several one-in-200-year flood events that each have almost crippled our community," he said.
"The cost to protect a community from future events and help mitigate the effects of climate change in smaller communities like Lumby is beyond the ability for us to afford on our own. For this reason, we're so grateful to be able to partner with our federal and provincial ministries ... to get the funding needed to construct over 900 metres of dikes."
Ostafichuk commended the province and the feds for their "foresight to see that it's important to protect all communities, including smaller rural communities like Lumby."
In Vernon, the federal government is investing roughly $1.3 million for the project. B.C. is investing $1.1 million and the city is contributing just over $844,000.
In Lumby, the federal government is putting over $2.3 million towards building the dikes, the province is adding just over $1.9 million, and the village is investing just over $1.5 million.
The federal funding comes from the Green Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.
