GATINEAU, Quebec — Along the coast of the United States, people who lost homes to Hurricane Dorian are preparing to rebuild. But Canada — which has faced devastating flooding of its own — is testing a very different idea of disaster recovery: forcing people to move.
Dorian is the third hurricane to strike North Carolina in four years. Many of the places inundated this time, such as Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks, had been hit by one of the earlier storms as well, only to rebuild and then flood again. Not all residents were on board. “Those were some of the worst meetings I’ve ever been involved in, telling people they’ve got to leave their homes,” said Craig Snodgrass, High River’s mayor, who supported the buyouts.Snodgrass says that the city as a whole is now better protected. “You’ve got to make the decision for the greater good of the community,” he said. “This is going to happen again. The water is coming, folks.
But after major floods hit Gatineau and other parts of Quebec again this April, the government expanded the no-building zone to include any area inundated in 2017 or 2019. Within the enlarged “special intervention zone,” homes damaged by 50% or more of their value must now be abandoned. Canada’s constitution contains no explicit protection for private property like that in the United States, according to Jim Phillips, a professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. While the government is unlikely to seize someone’s home without compensation, it faces fewer constraints.
“There’s a memory to honour here,” Nadeau said one afternoon in July, sitting at a riverside patio on a patch of land was underwater a few months earlier. “I know it will never be what it was before. But it can still be something good.”
Climate change scare pieces are so yesterday. It won’t save MSM or trudeau’s government.
Isn’t it always important to due your due diligence before you buy or build? Living near the water is romantic until the water invaded your home?
Why involve the gov at all? Build where you want. If you don't have insurance, then please do not ask for a gov handout. More gov money being wasted on both sides.
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