‘A natural calamity’: Ayr residents plea for tornado recovery assistance
Posted Sep 26, 2024 05:56:05 AM.
Last Updated Sep 27, 2024 01:13:04 PM.
Clean-up continues for those living in Ayr impacted by the tornado that struck the community back in August, but residents requesting help from township council are being told the region doesn’t qualify.
The EF2 tornado touched down on Aug. 17, primarily affecting the northern portion of the community. Dozens of trees were uprooted, businesses and homes were damaged, with rail cars and trailers flipped over. No injuries were reported, but the damage still left business owners and residents with the daunting task of restoring the community back to the way it was.
Requests for assistance were raised to North Dumfries council on Tuesday, asking for help in various areas. Some of the primary requests include:
- Expedited permits for repairs and construction efforts, limiting delays for residents affected.
- Permit fees be waived to limit overall financial burdens.
- Allocation of emergency municipal funds to cover immediate needs ranging from temporary housing, repairs, and other critical expenses.
- Debris removal services for public and private property to ensure safety and easier & faster construction efforts.
- Infrastructure assessment for roads, utility lines, etc., for overall community recovery.
- Tree re-planting and stump removals to restore the impacted areas.
“It is important to recognize that no one on Greenfield Road chose for this disaster to occur. It was a natural calamity,” Mark Melo, said local resident. “While media attention, visits from council members, and municipal staff were present in the immediate aftermath, we now find ourselves in the need of sustained support.”
Melo said the requests to council are centred around the fact that many insurance companies in use by the residents do not cover a lot of the areas brought forward.
A request was also made for the township to apply for the municipal disaster recovery assistance program from Ontario, to help repair public infrastructure. That specific request was met with details stating the region didn’t meet the minimum requirements for provincial funding.
“The damage to our infrastructure system, municipally controlled, would have to exceed three per cent of the value of our entire tax levy and such we have not crossed that threshold,” Andrew McNeely, Chief Administrative Officer with the Township of North Dumfries, said.
He said only specific areas of costs can go into the calculations for that particular program of funding. Altogether, the collective costs endured so far across the region associated with recovering from the tornado have been substantial, but the portions the program looks at in particular were not high enough.
“Normal regular ranges associated with the cleanup or immediate response to the event would not be eligible to be calculated as part of that program, so it would actually be direct costs,” said McNeely. “In some cases, we brought in outside equipment and outside professional services to assist. Those would be eligible given the volume or value of that aggregate amount, but it did not exceed the three per cent threshold, so we do not qualify.”
He noted that even though the region is under the minimum requirements, there is still another option that people across the area can look into that could provide some financial assistance.
“The residents, however, do have the ability to apply for the Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians. This is a program sponsored by the Province of Ontario that’s only available to residents and businesses that have been impacted by climate events.”
Those who are eligible can be reimbursed for clean-up expenses, costs to repair or replace essential property, and basic emergency expenses such as evacuation travel costs. The full details of the program can be viewed on the province’s website.
McNeely said through the whole process of recovery, council has been in constant communication with the residents who have been impacted.
“We had suggested to eight separate residential owners that they should be seeking an independent assessment, from a structural perspective, because of potential damage to their roofing system,” he said. “Those properties were flagged by staff based on either large trees or limbs that had fallen onto the roof structure proper or there was extensive removal of shingles from all or significant portions on the roof system itself.”
Since the incident occurred, he said lots of progress has been made in terms of the region’s recovery. The township recently posted on social media saying Cowan Park has officially reopened, but the playground and the splash pad still remain closed. The park’s washroom roof was completely torn off, and park amenities were severely damaged in the tornado.
McNeely said various structural assessments, along with the development of various building permit applications are still underway, but much of the immediate infrastructure has now been repaired.
“Certainly, the day of the event and the preceding 24 hours, hydro was significantly impacted. Where applicable, new posts were installed, the lines were re-hung, the odd transformer had to be replaced that was damaged as a result of the tornado itself, but to the best of my knowledge, Enbridge has not reported any service disruptions or impacts, neither has Grand Bridge post-recovery or Bell Telecom.”
Staff have indicated they will continue to monitor the entirety of the region’s recovery and progress as clean-up continues.
