Blackburn News link: Feds to provide $16.5M for flood mitigation in CK
Marco Mendicino, the parliamentary secretary to the federal infrastructure minister, announced Thursday that the municipality will receive $16.5 million in funding for flood mitigation efforts. The money is to help put a 40 per cent dent in the overall $42 million that Chatham-Kent planned to invest in reinforcing shorelines along the Thames River, Sydenham River, and McGregor Creek, along with the replacing of the 6th Street Dam.
According to Mendicino, the money will help reduce property damage and provide over 56,000 residents with a safer and healthier community.
“We know climate change is real and that Chatham-Kent is the most impacted community when it comes to floods,” Mendicino said. “With the ageing infrastructure around dykes and flood mitigation, it was critically important that the government of Canada partner with Chatham-Kent. The project is going to save businesses, it’s going to save homes and it’s going to save lives.”