The Provincial Disaster Assistance Program provides financial assistance to Saskatchewan municipalities after natural disasters such as floods or tornadoes have damaged their infrastructure. Damages in rural and urban municipalities typically involve washed out roads, bridges, and culverts. Urban municipalities can also sustain damage to electrical and mechanical equipment in facilities such as pump stations.
Since 2007, the Program has retained Associated Engineering on a case-by-case basis to provide damage assessments that help them determine the eligibility of projects and the level of funding that municipal applicants may receive. Infrastructure damages were assessed in 2007 and 2008 at over a thousand locations totaling in excess of $5 million.
The assessment process involves meeting with local municipal representatives, conducting site inspections, noting specific damage details, and obtaining digital photos. Reports which document the findings and include cost estimates are submitted to the client. Maps are also generated for rural municipality claimants, as some have experienced flooding at more than a hundred project locations spread over a wide geographic area. The detailed rural municipality assessment information is also provided in an Internet Mapping System. Via a secure internet connection, the system data can be accessed by the Program and regional municipalities to permit convenient viewing of specific project claims.