Sexsmith residents affected by the recent flooding could be eligible for some financial help from the Alberta government. The Town says the province is looking into whether the area could qualify for a disaster recovery program.
Anyone who owns a building that has interior damage is asked to send their name, address, contact information, and a description of the damage to [email protected] to be included in the application. Pictures, invoices, and receipts related to the damage should also be kept.
The deadline for the town to apply is within 30 days.
The north end of Sexsmith suffered overland flooding the evening of April 20th. Public Works and volunteers have been working since to pump the water and place thousands of sandbags.
However, the removal of the sandbags will be a bigger challenge. Mayor Kate Potter says Alberta Health Services received several complaints about a lack of physical distancing during the emergency response.
“I know that everyone involved did their best to maintain physical distancing and we encouraged the use of PPE while we had it,” she writes on Facebook. “However, due to the increased risk of fines for residents and the non-emergent status of the situation now, we are not able to organize a large-scale volunteer effort for the cleanup of sandbags around town.”
Residents are asked to remove their own sandbags starting next week and to place them on pallets that will be placed in affected areas. The Overland Flood Alert for the town was lifted at 8 p.m. Friday night.