Communities hit by 2021 floods denied recovery funding: mayors [Video]

B.C. communities damaged by flooding in November 2021 say they’ve been left high and dry after being denied disaster funding from the federal government without an explanation.

Last week, Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz said he learned his city wasn’t going to get the $46.5 million it needed to reconstruct and improve a dike that was destroyed about two-and-a-half years ago. 

“I [was] not only surprised, but disappointed,” Goetz told CBC’s Daybreak Kamloops host Shelley Joyce.

An atmospheric river in 2021 brought heavy rains and flooding to several parts of B.C., forcing thousands of people from their homes and destroying houses and businesses.