Igor relief claims total over 900
The Newfoundland and Labrador government says it will take a couple of weeks before the first of hundreds of disaster relief claims related to Hurricane Igor can be settled.
More than 900 claims have been made to the provincial Disaster Assistance Program, which will be used to evaluate how much money claimants will be entitled to receive.
But because of restrictions on who can qualify for public aid, there is pressure on charities to fill the gaps for the uninsured.
Municipal Affairs Minister Kevin O'Brien asked for patience Friday as claims are processed. The government said they will be settled in November.
Igor ripped across a wide swath of eastern Newfoundland on Sept. 21, causing washouts and ruptures to more than 150 roads and bridges, cutting off 89 different communities. The Category 1 hurricane dropped between 120 and 239 millimetres of rain in the hardest-hit areas.
The disaster aid program, though, will not be able to cover many repair bills incurred by homeowners, and charities have been stepping in to fill the void.
"It's the people that are going to fall between the cracks that are the ones that we're trying to cover," Premier Danny Williams said Tuesday night at a benefit concert in St. John's that raised more than $400,000 for the Canadian Red Cross.
"There are people who won't qualify for certain things."
Uninsured are top priority
The Canadian Red Cross said its priority is to get cash quickly to people whose lives have been upended.
"We do have a process in place. We want to make sure it's streamlined [and] it's efficient," organizer Anna Power said of the Igor relief effort.
"We really want to make sure we get money in the hands of those who need it the most, the most vulnerable, as quickly and as efficiently as possible."
The Red Cross has been in constant contact with the Salvation Army, the other major charity organizing an Igor relief campaign. The Salvation Army has been entrusted with more than $1 million in pledges made during a recent radiothon by the VOCM network of stations.
Maj. Wade Budgell said the Salvation Army is focused on helping people whose insurance will not cover losses, and whose disaster claims will fall short or be turned down.
Still, he said, Igor presented new challenges for an organization more accustomed to responding to disasters abroad.
"We're on the ground and positioned to respond to emergencies, so the army has been very involved around the world but we haven't had hurricanes in this part of the world so this is a first time experience for us," Budgell said.