News Release - Manitoba

PROVINCE ADVISES FLOOD CLEANUP UNDERWAY IN 141 MUNICIPALITIES, APPRAISALS TO BE COMPLETED THIS SUMMER

The majority of Manitobans affected by flooding have received at least an initial compensation payment, as the historic recovery effort from the 2011 flood continues, Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton announced today.

“The geographical scope of the 2011 flood was larger than anything we’ve seen before, affecting
141 rural municipalities,” Ashton said.  “Cleanup started this spring as the threat of further flood damage from high water ended.  The cost of compensation is expected to be three times what we spent fighting the flood last year.”

Under the Building and Recovery Action Program (BRAP), about 65 per cent of applicants have received advanced or final payments for a total of $66.4 million and, under the Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA) Program, more than 50 per cent of claims are complete and more than $300 million paid out.  The flood of 2011 is expected to cost nearly $1 billion, the minister said, adding the province has already provided more than $880 million for flood fighting, recovery and compensation. 

“We provided advance payments for thousands of Manitoba families to help them through the initial impact of the flood,” said Ashton.  “We will continue working with these families to get their lives back to normal as quickly as possible.” 

The province is hiring four more property assessors to speed up appraisals for flood-impacted properties around Lake Manitoba and has added six new commissioners to help with the claims appeals process.  Teams of appraisers have been assessing about 50 properties a week.  After bringing on eight new appraisers last month and four more now, it is expected all appraisals will be completed by the end of August, Ashton said.  To date, about 70 per cent of BRAP appraisals are complete and nearly all DFA inspections are complete.

The minister also noted the province has added six more commissioners, for a total of 12, to hear claims appeals from BRAP.  The new commissioners will ensure at least six appeals are heard a week, Ashton said.  To date, there have been 140 appeals representing two per cent of total claims under BRAP.  Under DFA there have been a total of 171 appeals, or about 3.7 per cent.  

Disaster Financial Assistance

• To date, over $314 million has been paid to 4,646 total claims under DFA, with close to
  50 per cent of the total claims having been completed.
• The majority of the claims are private with 4,446 receiving more than $59 million.  There are
  200 public claims that have received over $105 million.

Building and Recovery Action Plan

• Under the BRAP, there are 7,099 applications in process.  All applicants are in contact with Flood Recovery Office staff as they process their application.
• More than 65 per cent of applicants have received a final or advance payment for a total of
  $66.4 million.
• A number of programs under BRAP have been completed.
  • The Hoop and Holler Compensation Program has paid almost $7.5 million to 630 applicants with the average payment being almost $12,000.
  • The Pasture Flooding Program, which provided funding for producers to rent dry pasture land, has paid out over $2.6 million to 269 producers with the average payment being almost $10,000.
  • The Dauphin River Flood Assistance Program for fishers paid out over $1.8 million to
    65 fishers with the average payment being over $28,000.
  • The Lake Dauphin Flood Proofing Program provided almost $300,000 to help 55 residents for emergency flood mitigation.

AgriRecovery Programs 

• In 2011, about 3.6 million crop acres or about 38 per cent of Manitoba’s annual crop land and nearly half a million acres of hay land and pasture flooded around Lake Manitoba.
• Many of the 2011 agriculture flood assistance programs are complete with producers having received over $320 million in assistance on over 22,000 claims.
  • $126 million has been paid out through AgriRecovery.
  • $162 million has been paid in Excess Moisture Insurance through AgriInsurance.
  • $25 million has been paid out under the agriculture assistance program under BRAP.

While many of the agriculture assistance programs are cost shared with the federal government, the forage loss component of the BRAP, the Greenfeed Assistance Program, the 2011 Spring Blizzard Livestock Mortalities Program and the Shoal Lakes Agriculture Flooding Assistance Program are all fully funded provincial programs, Ashton said.