The City of Merritt has secured $3.4 million in provincial funding to construct the Middlesboro Phase 1 Diking Project. It is a key component of its Flood Mitigation Plan.

The funding, provided through the Disaster Resilience and Innovation Funding program, marks a significant step forward in safeguarding the community from future flooding events.

The Middlesboro-Phase 1 Project will install a critical section of flood protection dikes in Merritt, safeguarding homes, businesses, and vital infrastructure. The project includes the construction of a setback dike, which will allow the river to more naturally traverse the Coldwater River corridor through Merritt. This project is an important piece of Merritt’s 2022 Council approved Flood Mitigation Plan that will enhance community resilience, create a more natural river flow, and ensure a safer, more secure future for residents and businesses.

All of these relate from the 2022 flood mitigation plan, which specifies about five kilometers of dike. Director of Flood Recovery and Mitigation Sean Strang says this particular project is about 180 meters of that five kilometers, it’s all within the flood mitigation plan. This is just one more continuing plan. There was no funding to do the whole thing at the same time as they’ve done in other communities. So we’ve, we’ve had to parcel it off into small pieces.”

Strang calls it a bit of an odd space because although it is a very hopeful time, seeing things get built to protect the city, but it is still a bit trepidatious, because those things haven’t actually been built. “The last announcement, the 60 million that got announced a month ago here. That’s a four year project that’ll be 2029, before that’s completed. These are big, big, complex projects. So we all somewhat wait with breath abated. Certainly, City Hall has some some emergency plans. If we do see flooding where we need to shore it up, everyone’s watching quite intently, but I think we’ll all breathe a lot easier when it’s done.”

So all of the work that has been approved will get us between 70 and 80% done the full project that is slated to be complete by 2029 best case scenario. A lot of this depends on permitting. Strang says they actually only have a nine day window on the cold water river to actually do any in water work because of fish spawning.

“It is pretty groundbreaking in the fact that the province has continued to support us again and again,” said Strang. “We’re really all hoping, I wouldn’t say we’re waiting with rest abated for the feds, because I think we’d all turn blue in the face, but we’re really hoping that the feds show up at some point, especially for that last, 20% to get the whole city protected. But we’ve got a few years of work in front of us here. So we’re focusing on on making best use of the money that we have, and looking for solutions to build out the rest of it.”

Mayor Michael Goetz emphasized the importance of this investment. “With support from the Disaster Resilience and Innovation Funding program, we now have the funding to complete a vital section of the flood protection dike that was previously unfunded. This project will safeguard Merritt’s homes, businesses, and infrastructure from future floods, ensuring the long-term safety of our community. Thank you to the Province of British Columbia for helping us fill this critical gap and build a more resilient Merritt for the future.”

Why This Project Matters
Merritt’s 2022 Flood Mitigation Plan outlines a multi-phase approach to protecting the city from future disasters. However, many  components remain unfunded. The approval of this DRIF grant represents a major milestone, as Middlesboro Phase 1 Dike Project previously had no secured funding source.

Next Steps
The project will proceed once dike alignments are confirmed, and engineering work can begin. As a 100% provincially funded initiative, the DRIF grant will cover all costs.