The Mayor of Merritt says they have begun the delicate task of mapping out their flood plain projections in the city.

Linda Brown suggests that mapping will ultimately decide who — and how many — homes will have to be moved to avoid a repeat of what the city went through last November.

“That flood plain line affects the properties that are within it, so there are an awful lot of properties that are along the bank that we know we are going to have to look at moving at some point. We have had no negotiations with the public on any of this so we also don’t know what plan we are looking at.”

Brown says the first town hall sessions have been held to let the people of Merritt look at the flood plain mapping, which was commissioned earlier this year.

“We did hold a town hall the other day, we gave the options to the public and from there we will look at trying to determine what the ministries will pay for and what options are available.”

Once final decisions are made, a number of homes in Merritt inside the flood plain will have to be expropriated and moved.

However, Brown says they’re not sure when this process will be finished.

“I would like to be able to give you a date, I would like to be able to say to say tomorrow, but it’s just not going to happen tomorrow, its a timely thing, we are working as hard as we can to get it together, we are just not there yet.”

Ultimately, the City of Merritt will be looking to the BC government to cover the cost of buying up people’s homes and moving them. This comes on the heels of Merritt being given 24-million dollars from for temporary housing construction as part of that 870-million Ottawa announced earlier this month.

-With files from Abby Zieverink