District of North Vancouver staff and residents continue to deal with the fallout of the Nov. 3 flood that has done more than $1 million in damages and counting.
District engineers have been working long hours with private contractors, environmental consultants, arborists and geotechnical engineers in assessing and repairing washed out bridges, eroded roads, damaged culverts and grates.
"I can tell you that's north of $500,000 now and probably moving towards the $1 million range," said Gavin Joyce, the district's manager of parks, engineering and facilities. "We recorded a staggering 164 millimetres of rain over 24 hours. That's over six inches...which would, from our engineering tables, correspond to a one- in-50-year event."
The heavy rain caused mud, logs and debris to clog culverts on Hastings and Kilmer creeks. The torrent swelled and "jumped the road."
The municipality, much like roughly 40 district families and business owners, will likely qualify for Emergency Management B.C.'s disaster financial assistance program, which reimburses up to 80 per of repair costs.
Residents who have to do major repairs to damage caused by the flood will have their building and electrical permit fees waived by the district and their applications will be bumped to the front of the line.
That is helpful and appreciated, said Chris Klar, whose Fromme Road home was heavily damaged. But she'd like to see the district step forward with more compensation as the provincial help only covers "the essentials" and does nothing for the damage done to her property outside her home "We're anticipating that we're going to be in the $100,000-plus category on expenses," she said. "All of that will be helpful but we're probably still going to be a far way away from getting our home back to normal."
Klar would also like to see the district replace the problem culverts with wider ones that won't be so prone to clogging.
"We want to talk to them about what we can do to stop this from happening again because it happened, to a lesser degree, to the homeowners before us. Whenever those culverts back up, this house seems to be the line of attack," she said.
"Experiencing what we've experienced now, they look a little small to me," Klar added with a laugh.
That and other improvements will be up for consideration, Joyce said. Beyond the shortterm measures to prevent further damage, the district is evaluating all of its creek banks and infrastructure.
"We'll be doing a complete review of the creek systems going forward here. We're out there today and have been all week, looking at and walking all the creek systems to take whatever maintenance preemptive work that needs to be done," he said.
A friend of the Klars is setting up a benefit evening on Dec. 5 at the Lynn Valley Community Centre, with ticket proceeds and donations going to help offset the family's losses. Tickets are available by emailing anewsom@telus. net.
