Flooding on Quartz Road in Cache Creek beside the fire station on May 1, 2023. (Photo via Cache Cree Fire Department)

The B.C. government says it is launching a new funding program that will support disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation projects in the province.

It says the Disaster Resilience and Innovation Funding (DRIF) program will support First Nations and location governments with projects that strengthen defences against things like flooding, drought, extreme heat, and landslides.

“The growing frequency of climate-related events – from extreme heat to floods and drought – is having a dire impact on people in B.C.,” Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister, Bowinn Ma, said, in a statement.

“Communities have told us they need additional funding certainty to address their climate-risk needs, so we’re introducing this program to help begin to give them reliable, long-term funding to make people and their communities safer.”

The fund will provide $15 million in its first year and $25 million in its second year for eligible projects and hazards that also include erosion, sea-level rise, earthquakes and tsunamis.

The province says expressions of interest from First Nations and local governments received by Sept. 15 will be considered for the first round of funding beginning in the 2024-25 fiscal year.

“The new DRIF program aligns with our development of the B.C. Flood Strategy,”  B.C.’s Minister of Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, Nathan Cullen, added. ”

We heard loud and clear that communities across the province need long-term, stable funding programs to reduce the risks of flooding, as well as other natural and climate-driven hazards, and the DRIF is designed to help fill those gaps.”