Burlington, Ont.—Aug. 8, 2014—The United Way of Burlington & Greater Hamilton today announced a new Burlington Flood Relief Fund to help residents who are devastated by the storm and flooding of Aug. 4.
“The families of at least 1,000 homes in Burlington are struggling to get their lives back to normal following the storm, but some do not have the means to make this happen,” said Jeff Vallentin, CEO of the United Way of Burlington & Greater Hamilton. “The United Way is here to help direct the generousity of people in Burlington toward their neighbours into a fund that can help the people who need it most.”
The City of Burlington has been working with Halton Region to clean up following the storm Aug. 4, repairing, reopening and cleaning roads and sidewalks, and clearing debris in creeks and parks. Nearly 200 millimetres of rain fell in three hours. The high-intensity short-duration storm caused creeks to overflow and resulted in road closures and flooded basements in many areas of the city.
“We are very grateful to the United Way for setting up a community flood relief fund to help the people of Burlington affected by the flood,” said Pat Moyle, Interim City Manager with the City of Burlington. “The creation of a community-based fund is crucial to the success of securing provincial funding support for the residents impacted by the flood. For every dollar raised locally, the province has the ability to double that amount through its Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program.”
On Aug. 7, provincial representatives toured homes in Burlington to see firsthand the impact on people’s possessions, their homes and their lives. The city is holding a special Council meeting on Aug. 14 to confirm its application to receive Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program (ODRAP) funding to help pay for the costs related to this high-intensity storm.
“I have spoken to hundreds of people since Monday’s storm. Everyone is doing the best they can to return their lives to normal, clean up their homes and to try to make it work financially,” said Mayor Rick Goldring. “This is truly a very serious situation for the people of Burlington. I look forward to our provincial partners helping the United Way help those in need.”
For more information about what to do when you have flooding, visit www.burlington.ca/flood or www.halton.ca/flood. For information about Halton Region’s rebate program or waste collection updates, call 311.
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Communications contact:
Donna Kell, Manager of Communications
Office: 905-335-7600, ext. 7841
email: donna.kell@burlington.ca
