Cheques coming

It was worth the wait for seven victims of last year’s flood and sewage back-up disaster.

Initially told their claims weren’t eligible for relief, continued negotiations with officials from the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program resulted in their requests being approved after all.

On Wednesday their cheques, along with adjusted final payments to all other approved claimants were dropped in the mail.
Cheques are expected to arrive as early as Thursday.

Kari Chiappetta, the program manager for the Thunder Bay and Area Disaster Relief Committee, said she spent about eight hours combined the past two days stuffing envelopes with cheques and a breakdown of individual claims and approvals.

It’s a relief to see the process finally coming to an end, she said.

“It feels really good to announce we’re sending out the final payments today. It’s been a long process. Anybody who has been a part of it is 14 months, 15 months in. It’s a lot longer than we thought it would be,” Chiappett said, adding the total amount paid out will be about $2.3 million. 

The delay in getting money into the hands of flood victims was not ideal, but it did result in more money being put forward by the province.
“After the first round of cheques went out we really realized there was a large discrepancy in the amounts that people were getting,” she said. “So we worked with the ministry to be able to up the amounts. So that’s why it’s taken longer than we thought.”

Thunder Bay was hit with more than 100 millimetres of rain over a 24-hour period, culminating on May 28, 2012.

Hundreds of homes suffered flood damage, while some homeowners woke up to find their basements filled with raw sewage, the result of a massive failure at the city’s Atlantic Avenue Water Treatment facility.