Four regional districts on Vancouver Island have been approved for provincial disaster financial assistance (DFA), the British Columbia government said Friday.
DFA covers up to 80 per cent of claims between $1,000 and $300,000 filed by farmers, eligible homeowners and residential tenants, small businesses and charitable organizations to compensate for property damaged by uninsurable disasters, such as “certain floods and mudslides.”
The Comox Valley, Nanaimo, Cowichan Valley and Strathcona Regional Districts are currently eligible for consideration for DFA.
Record rainfall has caused rivers and waterways to rise to flood levels in those areas, provincial Public Safety Minister Kash Heed said in a release.
To be eligible for DFA, the damage must be from an uninsurable event such as overland flooding or groundwater seepage.
Snowload and wind damage, for example, are considered insurable and therefore ineligible. Mudslide damage may be ineligible if the slide is found to have been caused by “pre-existing slope instability,” the province said.
The 90-day deadline for DFA applications is Feb. 17, 2010. More information is available online or toll-free at 1-888-257-4777.
