Close X
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
ADVT 
National

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

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 09 Dec, 2024 03:55 PM
  • Feds send $148 million to B.C. in disaster recovery funds for floods, wildfires

The federal government is paying out more than $148 million in disaster recovery funding to British Columbia in response to recent flooding and record-breaking wildfire seasons.

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada says in a statement that the funding will be paid through its Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements program for supporting costs linked with the 2022 and 2023 wildfires season as well as flooding last year.

The federal government says B.C. saw more than 4,000 wildfires in the two years, with 223 evacuations orders and 431 alerts affecting about 192,000 residents overall.

It says about $132 million will be sent for the 2023 wildfire season and $12 million for 2022, as well as about $4 million for the flooding in the B.C. Interior that happened in April and May 2023.

The 2023 B.C. wildfire season is the most destructive in the province's history, with more than 28,400 square kilometres of land burned along with many structures, including entire neighbourhoods in the Okanagan. 

The 2023 wildfire season in B.C. contributed to the most destructive wildfire season in the country with 6,000 fires torching 150,000 square kilometres — an area more than double the original record set in 1989, according to Natural Resources Canada.

MORE National ARTICLES

Bitcoin extortion scam in Langley

Bitcoin extortion scam in Langley
Mounties in Langley are warning the public about an extortion scam, saying they have received 12 similar reports so far this month. R-C-M-P say the suspects claim to possess compromising images of victims and threaten to release them unless the victim sends money to a Bitcoin wallet.

Bitcoin extortion scam in Langley

Surrey man facing child pornography charges

Surrey man facing child pornography charges
A Surrey man is facing further child pornography charges after his initial arrest in June. R-C-M-P say the 41-year-old man has been in custody since then, and he's now been charged with additional offences including luring a child.

Surrey man facing child pornography charges

Four newsroom staff at Radio NL in Kamloops are cut in format change

Four newsroom staff at Radio NL in Kamloops are cut in format change
More than half of the newsroom at Radio NL in Kamloops, B.C., has been let go as the station moves to a music format.  The radio station has had a decades-long grip on news in the Interior and beyond, breaking stories and covering everything from emergencies to courts and city hall.  

Four newsroom staff at Radio NL in Kamloops are cut in format change

A look at B.C. health care promises ahead of Oct. 19 election day

A look at B.C. health care promises ahead of Oct. 19 election day
The state of British Columbia health care has become a key issue ahead of the provincial election on Oct. 19 as the overburdened system attempts to cope with understaffing, frequent short-term closures of emergency rooms and hundreds of thousands of residents who don't have a family doctor. Here are some of the health-related election promises from the three major parties:

A look at B.C. health care promises ahead of Oct. 19 election day

Picket lines go up as strike begins at six grain terminals in Metro Vancouver

Picket lines go up as strike begins at six grain terminals in Metro Vancouver
Picket lines have gone up at six grain terminals in Metro Vancouver as about 600 workers begin a strike. Canada's labour minister, meanwhile, says he spoke with both the employer and representatives of Grain Workers Union Local 333 on Monday, and they have agreed to resume contract negotiations alongside federal mediators.

Picket lines go up as strike begins at six grain terminals in Metro Vancouver

Health Canada approves Pfizer-BioNTech's updated COVID-19 vaccine

Health Canada approves Pfizer-BioNTech's updated COVID-19 vaccine
Health Canada approved Pfizer-BioNTech's updated COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, marking its third authorization of vaccine formulations that protect against the most recently circulating variants of the virus. Pfizer-BioNTech's mRNA vaccine, called Comirnaty, targets the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron, replacing the previous version that targeted the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant.

Health Canada approves Pfizer-BioNTech's updated COVID-19 vaccine