Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA) is now available for eligible British Columbians in the Chilcotin region who may have been impacted by overland flooding from heavy rains that began on July 6, 2019.

DFA is available to homeowners, residential tenants, small business owners, farmers, charitable organizations and local governments that were unable to obtain insurance to cover their disaster-related losses.

Applications for this DFA event in the Cariboo Regional District and the Tsilhqot’in National Government (including all electoral areas, municipalities and First Nations communities within their boundaries) must be submitted to Emergency Management BC (EMBC) by Oct. 15, 2019.

British Columbians can access the DFA application online: http://www.gov.bc.ca/disasterfinancialassistance

Facts about Disaster Financial Assistance:

DFA is available to qualified homeowners, residential tenants, small business owners, farm owners and charitable organizations. Applicants should be aware of the following:

• Financial assistance is provided for each accepted claim at 80% of the amount of total eligible damage that exceeds $1,000, to a maximum claim of $300,000.
• Claims may be made in more than one category (e.g., homeowner and farm owner).
• Homeowners or residential tenants must show that the home is their principal residence.
• Seasonal or recreational properties, hot tubs, patios, pools, garden tools, landscaping, luxury items (such as jewelry, fur coats and collectibles) and recreational items (such as bicycles) are not eligible for assistance.
• Small business owners and farm owners must demonstrate that their farms and businesses are their primary source of income.
• Charitable organizations must provide a benefit or service to the community at large.

Assistance is also available to local governments for:

• emergency response measures authorized by EMBC according to response task number. These include incremental costs associated with their Emergency Operations Centre. Financial assistance is provided for each accepted response claim at 100%. Completed response claim summaries and supporting documentation must be sent to the respective EMBC regional office.
• recovery measures to replace essential materials and rebuild or replace essential public infrastructure to the condition it was in before the disaster. Assistance is provided for each accepted recovery claim at 80% of the amount of total eligible damage that exceeds $1,000.