The federal government has provided flood prevention assistance for another Windsor-Essex community.
The town of LaSalle will receive $14.8-million from the government of Canada, to be put toward a series of upgrades designed to help prevent shoreline and basement flooding following severe storms. The town's contribution to the project is at over $22-million.
LaSalle is the second area community to receive federal money for flood prevention. The town of Tecumseh announced last week it will receive over $26-million in funding toward flood mitigation.
Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, was on hand for the announcement Tuesday morning, along with LaSalle Mayor Marc Bondy.
"With severe weather events on the rise, it is important we invest in infrastructure that protects Canadians, their homes, and their businesses," said Kusmierczyk. "Once complete, this important project will help protect LaSalle residents from floods, ensure essential services remain available during floods, and significantly reduce the costs of recovery."
The upgrades will include the replacement of the current gravity-based stormwater and sanitary overflow outlets with five new stormwater pumping stations. A new sanitary bypass pumping station is also included. The project, once completed, will not only reduce flood risk for LaSalle residents but also save residents about $7.63 a year in flood-related recovery costs.
"We are proud to partner with Infrastructure Canada to make LaSalle’s Disaster Mitigation and Infrastructure Enhancement Project a reality," said Bondy. "Flooding has been a concern for town council and administration, and for a number of our residents, for the past few years. This project supports the continued investment that the town of LaSalle is making in infrastructure, and will continue to make in the future."
The money comes from the federal government's Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund, a $2-billion, ten-year program to help communities build the infrastructure they need to better withstand natural hazards.