One-stop shop for flood recovery opens in High River

The Disaster Recovery Centre in High River will stay open until it is no longer needed.

The province says a disaster recovery centre in High River will serve as an ongoing location for residents to get access to resources and answers to flood related questions.

The information centre is set up at the Welcome Centre at the Rodeo Grounds and is open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. for the rest of the week and will be expanded if the needed.

The centre will help residents gain access to flood resources and information about everything from remediation to counselling.

“Our goal here is to assist citizens from the High River area that have been affected by the flooding. Assist them to work through the disaster recovery program, answer some of the questions they may have with some of the specifics and provide general information to them. As well, if there’s still folks that need to fill out an application, we strongly recommend that they come on down and see us and we’ll help them fill it out,” said Mark Murphy, Field Officer for Alberta Emergency Management Agency.

Murphy says there are a few variables involved when it comes to assessing how long it takes to get flood funding.

"There is some requirements for the applicants to provide us with some information like government issued ID, a letter from their insurance company, so we have to get that information first and then we will work as diligently as we can to get an evaluator out and take a look at their property and then to provide them with some initial funding if required and then to obviously finish off their application. So it's hard for us to say, give a hard number, so many days, we are working as quickly as we can, we're hiring more staff to move the process on as efficiently as we can," said Murphy.

The Government of Alberta RV is also set up at the Welcome Centre to offer support to residents.

The province says the disaster recovery centre will stay open for as long as it is needed.

For more information, visit the Government of Alberta website.