The Province of Manitoba has announced the expansion of their Manitoba Flood Recovery Program (MFRP) in a news release this morning, including that several additional communities are now eligible for the program. Below is a list of newly eligible communities under the MFRP.
City of Dauphin
Rural Municipality (RM) of Dauphin
Mossey River Municipality
Municipality of Ethelbert
Grandview Municipality
Municipality of Gilbert Plains
RM of Lakeshore
Municipality of Ste. Rose
Rossburn Municipality
Municipality of Russell-Binscarth
RM of Riding Mountain West
Prairie View Municipality
Municipality of Boissevain-Morton
This announcment comes after Ron Kostyshyn, Dauphin MLA and Manitoba's Agriculture Minister, said he had been actively working with the Province on getting additional communities included in the program, and that he would continue to work with the Province on the subject.
Ste. Rose Mayor, Robert Brunel, said it's good to see his community now included in the program, considering all of the rain the area saw.
"Like a lot of the other parts of the Parkland and the Province, we did see a significant amount of rain in that end of June, July 1st timeframe...the amount of water that fell within the community of Ste. Rose, and the overland flooding, and the overwhelming of the sewer system was quite incredible," said Brunel.
Brunel said in the grand scheme of things, Ste. Rose's infrastrucutre damages weren't the worst, but on the side of residents, being included in the MFRP will definitely go a long way.
"When we look at our municipal infrastructure, we had a lot of water running over roads, due to the slope of our area, the washouts are, I would call minimal...it'll be a help, depending on people's insurance coverage levels, in general I think people always come up short when something like this happens, so [the MFRP] should help," said Brunel.
According to the Province, "Under the Manitoba Flood Recovery Program, individual claims assistance is capped at $3 million, minus the deductable, up to the cost of repairs or the assessed value of the property, whichever is lower. A deductible of $2,500 or 20% of the eligible assistance amount, whichever is great, applies to all claims, and is deducted from the approved payment amount." Put simply: Maximum assistance is $3 million, up to the total cost of repairs, or your assessed property value, whichever is lower. Your deductible is either $2,500, or 20% of your eligible assitance amount, whichever is more.
For example, if you have $100,000 of eligible damage, 20% of that is $20,000, so the Province would cover $80,000. If your repairs cost $400,000, but the property's assessed value is $350,000, the 20% deductible is removed from the lower amount, being $350,000. The Province would cover $280,000 meaning you'd have a deductible of $70,000.
For more information about the Manitoba Flood Recovery Program, click here to visit the Government of Manitoba's website.
