Chatham-Kent gets $16.5M from feds for shoreline reinforcement

After serious flooding in Chatham-Kent in the past couple of years, the federal government is providing $16.5 million to the municipality for flood mitigation work.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Communities and the mayor of Chatham-Kent announced the funding Thursday.

"The extensive work needed to protect residents and property along the Thames and Sydenham rivers would present an enormous burden on local taxpayers," Mayor Darrin Canniff said in a news release.

The shorelines along the Thames River, which flooded as recently as February 2019, as well as Sydenham River and McGregor Creek, will be reinforced.

The 6th Street dam will be replaced as well.

This money is dispersed as part of a $2-billion Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund, a 10-year program to support infrastructure in municipalities across Canada.

In February, there was a state of emergency announced in Chatham-Kent when the Thames River dike failed in multiple locations.

An ice jam had contributed to the rising Thames River levels, which went up as high as 5.5 metres.