Photography by David Brennan

 

City Council has requested Mississauga, or areas of it, be declared a disaster zone following the July 8 flooding that the GTA. The City has applied for provincial disaster relief funding from the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program. The disaster program provides assistance to the restoration of basic property destroyed by natural disasters.

At a special council meeting this morning, Council received a report regarding the disaster program application. The report, from Martin Powell, City of Mississauga Acting City Manager and Chief Administrative Officer, notes the probability of the city classified as a disaster area is unlikely.

Some highlights of Powell’s report include:

  • The Province of Ontario under the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program (ODRAP), provides financial assitance to individuals, small businesses and others, including municipalities.
  • The ODRAP helps in situations where essential property has been damaged in a sudden and unexpected natural disasters such as a windstorm, tornado, or flood. The rain and flooding event experienced in the City of Mississauga on July 8 may qualify as a natural disaster.
  • The likelihood of the requested declaration being granted is slim.There are two components to the Program, each with strict criteria as to eligibility. There is a public component and private component. The public component is intended to alleviate financial hardship experience by municipalities whose essential public property and infrastructure have been damaged in a disaster. The private component is matched with community fund raising up to 2:1 by the Province.
  • The ODRAP does not provide full cost recovery for all damages resulting from a disaster: It helps eligible recipients restore essential furnishings and property only to pre-disaster condition.
  • ODRAP assistance is provided when damages are so extensive that they exceed the financial resources of the affected individuals, the municipality and community at large.

If you have any pictures or videos of the GTA flood you’d like to share, please email us.