The community of Humboldt qualified for PDAP after heavy rain in June. (File photo/farmnewsNOW staff)

By Angie Rolheiser

Disaster Assistance

Rural communities getting assistance after severe weather events

Aug 31, 2020 | 2:00 PM

The Provincial Disaster Assistance Program (PDAP) is helping dozens of Saskatchewan communities recover from severe weather events this year.

The acting executive director of the Disaster Assistance plan, Noel McAvena said the program is designed to cover uninsured losses from severe weather events for farmers and rural communities.

“To be eligible, local authorities need to apply for assistance and be approved and then once the community has been designated for PDAP, individuals can make applications to the program,” McAvena said.

An adjuster would be assigned to assess the damage.

A rural municipality office would need to contact the PDAP within one month of the date of the disaster for the process to happen.

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Examples of natural disasters include flooding, tornadoes and plow winds.

“The program can help residents, small businesses, communities, agriculture operations, First Nations and non-profit organizations recover from uninsured damages,” McAvena said.

Plenty of support has been given recently, according to McAvena with 325,000 claims being approved in the province in 2019.

This year, there have been 27 approved designations for PDAP assistance.

“Most of these are for heavy rain and plow winds,” McAvena said.

A full list can be found at saskatchewan.ca/pdap. Most of the areas hit by extreme weather have been in the north central area of the province.

“We are seeing designations from places like the RM of Prince Albert, RM of Big River, Blaine Lake, Buckland, Meadow Lake, that type of area,” McAvena said.

The community of Humboldt qualified for PDAP after heavy rain in June.

The program only covers property damage and cannot provide any coverage for injury and harm to people and is only for uninsurable damage.

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angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser