Warwick Township is receiving nearly $98,000 in provincial assistance, after flooding damaged roads and prompted a state of emergency in 2023.
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“We really do appreciate it,” said Todd Case, mayor of the east Lambton municipality where an estimated 180 millimeters of rain fell in five hours Aug. 23, 2023.
The storm shifted the pavement on Zion Line, flooded basements and damaged other culverts and gravel roads.
Warwick applied for $121,000 in damages via the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing’s municipal disaster recovery assistance program.
Why the township didn’t get that full amount isn’t clear, said treasurer Trevor Jarrett.
But hopes are to get that information soon, he said, as Warwick prepares to apply for more money for more repairs after a similar storm hit in July and prompted another emergency declaration.
“It’s important for us to know why (the amount awarded) was discounted a little bit,” in case adjustments need to be made for the next application process, Case said.
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“But at the end of the day, it’s still a good news story and it’s nice to see the provincial government is supporting a rural municipality like ours.”
The funding will help with cost recovery for needed repairs, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra said, in a news release.
“Our government is proud to support our municipal partners to help rebuild them after unexpected natural disasters,” he said.
The application process requires providing certain levels of evidence about the damages, Jarrett said.
“It’s a learning curve,” he said, adding ministry officials have been helpful answering questions and he thinks the municipality is better prepared after going through the process once already.
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Repair costs are still pending from the July 16 storm, but will likely end up around $400,000, he said.
Along with replacing a handful of small culverts that collapsed with the flooding, and repairing three-dozen washed-out roads and shoulders, repairs are ongoing on an eight-meter-long Kingscourt Road bridge damaged by flood waters, Jarrett said.
“It was just coming so quickly it buckled the actual metal culvert and then collapsed the road,” he said, estimating repairs there alone will cost about $300,000.
All other damaged infrastructure in the municipality was repaired within a week, he said.
Meanwhile, there was a surge of interest after July’s storm in a $60,000 township grant programoffering residents up to $3,000 to install backwater valves and disconnect sump pumps from sanitary sewers, he said.
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Council decides Monday whether to top up the fund with another $30,000, he said, noting 25 grants averaging $2,400 have all but depleted the fund.
Uptake was slow after the grant program was introduced after last year’s storm, “then, all of a sudden, the second incident really accelerated it,” Jarrett said.
Case said he’s in favor of upping the fund, “to be able to continue to assist folks in our community.”
Paying for that top-up would be reconciled at 2025 budget deliberations, Jarrett said.
Case also praised local MPPs Steve Pinsonneault and Bob Bailey for helping the township with advocacy after the storms.
“It’s always good to see when government can work with each other to try and find a resolution to an issue that was such a terrible event,” Case said.
Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bailey assisted the municipality that’s just outside his riding, Case said, before Pinsonneault was elected, in May, to the seat vacated by former Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Monte McNaughton last fall.
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