Feds send $148 million to B.C. in disaster recovery funds for floods, wildfires

Vancouver: So, the federal government is stepping up big time! They’re sending over $148 million to British Columbia to help with the aftermath of some serious flooding and wildfires.

This funding is coming through a program designed to assist with disaster recovery. It’s aimed at covering costs from the wildfires and floods that hit in 2022 and 2023.

Can you believe B.C. faced over 4,000 wildfires in just two years? That’s wild! There were 223 evacuation orders and 431 alerts, affecting around 192,000 people.

Out of that $148 million, about $132 million is for the 2023 wildfire season, $12 million for 2022, and around $4 million for the flooding that happened in the B.C. Interior last spring.

The 2023 wildfire season was a record-breaker, burning over 28,400 square kilometers and destroying entire neighborhoods, especially in the Okanagan.

It’s not just B.C. that suffered; this season was the worst in Canada’s history, with 6,000 fires burning through 150,000 square kilometers—more than double the previous record from 1989.

This news was first reported by The Canadian Press on December 9, 2024.