Sioux Lookout wants to make sure everyone wanting provincial disaster recovery assistance due to this year's spring flooding can apply by the deadline on Friday, Oct. 7.
Brian MacKinnon, manager of corporate services and municipal clerk, said “we wanted to give people a little reminder, if they haven’t yet submitted their claims.”
Mackinnon said the province determines the timeframe for disaster assistance programs, including the start and end dates.
“They typically provide a number of months because they understand that it can take a number of months for people to actually undertake the clean-up work or to get receipts from the various contractors... who would have provided the service,” he said.
The expectation is that people will make claims with their insurance companies first, said MacKinnon, adding the provincial program is to cover gaps for items that might not be covered or are only covered to a certain limit.
“The municipality worked really hard once that declaration was made by the province to help people either get in touch with the province and gather information themselves,” he said. “The Municipality certainly encourages people to take advantage of the program to try and recover some of the costs they incurred in recovering from the flood.”
The Friday deadline to apply for the Disaster Recovery Assistance program is the same for all communities in Northwestern Ontario affected by the flooding this spring, including Fort Frances, Kenora, Dryden, Ignace, Atikokan, Ear Falls, and others.
The information for the program can be found on its website.
