The Town of Hay River has released its first assessment of damage from intense flooding earlier this spring, including estimates for the cost of repairs and future flood mitigation.
The repair bill will be $22 million, the town states in a briefing note for councillors, a bill expected to be covered largely by the NWT government’s disaster assistance policy and private insurance claims.
Mitigation efforts are estimated to cost an additional $30 million.
This assessment includes damage to roads, culverts, storm drainage systems, several town buildings, public green spaces and recreational trails.
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Town senior administrator Glenn Smith has indicated the process of rebuilding infrastructure will take time.
“Some of those repairs will take multiple years, perhaps, to complete,” Smith said.
The briefing document, prepared for a council meeting next week, breaks down the headline figures.
The largest lines on the bill are $10 million for repair of the water treatment plant’s intake line, which is believed to have been compromised. The town is suggesting an additional $20 million in mitigation costs to protect the plant against future damage.
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Repairing and protecting the town’s largest lift station, located on Riverview Drive, is forecast to cost more than $5 million.
This year’s spring flooding submerged the station in more than two metres water. All equipment in the building was damaged.
Smith said the town is considering a full replacement of the lift station with one that would be more resilient in the face of water levels similar to those seen earlier this spring.
Repairing the road to Paradise Gardens is also a pressing matter. The cost of the temporary fix currently in place is estimated at $850,000, but a longer-term replacement of the road could cost as much as $2.5 million.
Flooding forced the evacuation of around 4,000 people from Hay River and the Kátł’odeeche First Nation earlier this spring.
