With the worst of the storms a thing of the past, the City of Merritt says it is now focusing on recovery.

Speaking on the NL Noon Report, Deputy Emergency Information Officer, Alan Stebbing, says it will take some time for people to fully recover. He notes that there are lots of supports that will be made available to those who need it.

“At this point, we don’t have firm numbers on how many people are going to be displaced but there is definitely a commitment to work with people,” he said. “Disaster Financial Assistance has been approved by the province to help with some of that rebuilding but it will be a change for some people.”

“Those supports are going to be here in the community as they are needed and coming from all sorts of volunteer groups, the provincial government, from the federal government and of course, from the City of Merritt and the TNRD, the local governments in the area.”

While the entire city of Merritt was evacuated on Nov. 15, most residents have now been given the all-clear to return back home.

A few residents who still remain on evacuation order are being given day access to go check on their properties and make repairs or collect their valuables that were left behind.

“All indications are that we have weathered the storm – pardon the pun – but yeah, I would say we have fairly good confidence that the response piece of this over, but the recovery and resilience piece is going to be longer term,” Stebbing said.

As of publishing, there were no flood warnings or watches in place in B.C., though there were high streamflow advisories for the Nicola and Coldwater rivers

For details on the City of Merritt’s return home plan for Phases 3 and 4, go here.