Cape Breton flood-ravaged areas to be toured by Federal Safety Minister on Monday

Public safety minister will speak to media at Brookland Elementary School

CBC News Posted: Oct 14, 2016 10:17 AM AT Last Updated: Oct 14, 2016 1:35 PM AT

Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale will visit Sydney today to tour the areas flooded in a historic rainfall on Monday.

Several homes in the centre of the community were inundated by nearly two metres of water, mixed with furnace oil and sewage.

• Wading through what's covered by insurance, and what's not, in Cape Breton flood

Goodale will be accompanied on his tour by Cape Breton MPs Mark Eyking and Rodger Cuzner, and Nova Scotia Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Minister Geoff MacLellan.

Goodale will speak to the media at 3 p.m. at Brookland Elementary School, which suffered serious damage when its first floor was flooded.

400 calls in 3 hours

Cecil Clarke, the mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, said a helpline that became operational at 8 a.m. had received 400 calls in just over three hours from people whose homes or basements had been flooded.

Additionally, a preliminary inspection of homes in the hardest-hit area of Sydney found 17 of 18 are uninhabitable.

CBRM wants to get some relief to those homeowners as early as today or tomorrow, Clarke said.

"For immediate needs ... the municipality follows the provincial per diem rate for expenses, for food and incidentals and we will just use that because that's the audited process we have in place," Clarke said. 

Can't wait for disaster relief

The damage in the flood zone alone is great enough to surpass the threshold of $3 million that triggers federal disaster relief, but people can't wait for that, Clarke said.

"We have lots and lots of people that are reporting their food is spoiled, their deep-freeze, their fridge, limited resources, no insurance," the mayor said. "All of this is being taken in account because it's going to stress people when the money is just not there when they need it."

Clarke said he has not heard of any reports yet of home insurance covering damage beyond sewer backup.