今年夏天袭击尼亚加拉北部的毁灭性洪水，助推加拿大夏季因自然灾害造成的保险赔付总额达到有记录以来最严重水平之一，最新数据显示。
The devastating summer floods that hit north Niagara helped propel Canada's total insured damage from natural disasters over the summer to one of the worst on record, new data shows.
7月27日至28日夜间以及8月2日，接连不断的风暴每场在短短几小时内就倾泻了一个月的雨量，彻底压垮了圣凯瑟琳斯、林肯以及尼亚加拉湖畔和尼亚加拉瀑布部分地区的市政污水管网，导致数千户住宅被淹。
Those back-to-back storms overnight on July 27 and July 28 then again on Aug. 2 each dumped a month's worth of water in just a few hours, completely overwhelming the municipal sanitary sewer systems in St. Catharines, Lincoln, and parts of Niagara-on-the-Lake and Niagara Falls and leaving thousands of homes flooded.
三个月过去了，圣凯瑟琳斯选区省议员珍妮·史蒂文斯表示，无数家园被污水污染的洪水淹没的尼亚加拉居民依然处于困境中，他们正试图让保险公司理赔往往高昂的索赔。
Three months later, countless Niagara residents whose homes were flooded with sewage-tainted water remain in limbo as they try to get their insurance companies to settle what can be expensive claims, says St. Catharines riding MPP Jennie Stevens.
一项针对洪水受害者的新调查发现，许多受灾户表示感到不堪重负、焦虑、受创、无助，甚至有自杀念头。
Many of those flooding victims say they feel overwhelmed, anxious, traumatized, helpless and even suicidal, a new survey of flooding victims has found.
史蒂文斯本周在安大略省议会发言，要求省政府启动省级灾害救助计划，帮助因洪水受创的尼亚加拉民众，却遭到市政事务和住房部长罗布·弗拉克的强硬抵制，后者称这些受灾家庭不符合获得该援助的资格。
Stevens stood up in the Ontario legislature this week and demanded the province activate a provincial disaster relief program to help Niagara people hammered by flooding, but ran into stiff resistance from Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack who said those flooded households don't qualify for that aid.
估计洪水损失3.6亿元 总部位于多伦多的灾害指数与量化公司估计，尼亚加拉洪水造成3.6亿元损失，占据了整个夏季全国估计37亿元保险损失中的相当大一部分，加拿大保险局于10月22日表示，这37亿元还包括草原省份的严重风暴、不列颠哥伦比亚省的野火及其他自然灾害。该局称，这是历史上因恶劣天气造成损失第三高昂的夏季。
$360 million in flooding damage estimated Toronto-based Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. estimated the flooding in Niagara caused $360 million, a sizeable chunk of the estimated $3.7 billion in insured losses nation-wide over the summer that included severe storms across the prairies, wildfires in British Columbia and other natural disasters, the Insurance Bureau of Canada said on Oct. 22. That was the third costliest summer in history for losses related to severe weather, the bureau said.
今年夏天早些时候，史蒂文斯曾致信弗拉克，请他考虑让受洪水袭击的尼亚加拉居民和企业有资格根据《安大略省灾害恢复援助计划》（DRAO）获得财政援助。
Earlier in the summer, Stevens wrote to Flack, asking him to consider making Niagara residents and businesses hit by flooding eligible for financial assistance under the Disaster Recovery Assistance for Ontarians (DRAO) program.
该计划在洪水、龙卷风、山体滑坡和地震等自然灾害发生后，为个人、农民、小企业和非营利机构的应急开支、维修和更换基本财产提供高达 25 万元的赔付。
That program pays up to $250,000 to people, farmers, small businesses and not-for-profit agencies for emergency expenses, repairs and replacing essential property after natural disasters such as floods, tornadoes, landslides and earthquakes.
省政府网站称，灾难恢复援助计划通常不承保下水道倒灌造成的损失，但有一项规定：低收入家庭可能符合资格。但在斯蒂文斯致弗拉克的信中表示，加拿大环境与气候变化部的一位气象学家确认，七月的那场风暴导致了山洪暴发。
A provincial website says the disaster recovery program generally doesn't cover damage from sewer backups, except for a provision in which low-income households may qualify. But Stevens said in her letter to Flack that an Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist confirmed the July storm resulted in flash flooding.
圣凯瑟琳斯市政府在夏天的一份声明中也表示，洪水是风暴造成的，而非基础设施问题。
The City of St. Catharines also said in a statement in the summer that the flooding was the result of a storm, not an infrastructure issue.
周二，弗拉克在安大略省议会的质询期间回应斯蒂文斯要求省政府为尼亚加拉地区洪灾受害者启动 DRAO 的呼吁时，并不认同这一说法。他说，因下水道倒灌导致地下室进水的人需要通过私人保险解决。
Flack wasn't buying that when he responded to Stevens' demands during question period at Queen's Park on Tuesday that the province activate DRAO for the Niagara flooding victims. He said people with basements flooded by sewer backups need to go through private insurance.
“底线是，之所以没有启动 DRAO，是因为这不是地表水淹没，”他说，“是下水道倒灌。”斯蒂文斯表示，省政府有责任在灾难时刻帮助安大略省民。“但 92 天过去了，尼加拉北部仍然没有任何救助，”她说。
"Bottom line is, DRAO was not activated because it was not overland water," he said. "It was sewer backups." Stevens said the province has a duty to help Ontarians in times of disaster. "[But] ninety two days later, still, no relief" in north Niagara, she said.
她指出，洪灾发生后成立的一个名为“北区邻里”的在线小组对近 450 名房主进行了调查，发现受灾者中超过 60% “仍处于困境中”，保险理赔未果。
She noted an online group formed in the wake of the flooding, Northend Neighbours, did a survey of nearly 450 homeowners and found more than 60 per cent of those flooded "are still in limbo" with their insurance claims.
“老年人和弱势家庭正淹没在维修账单和失去住房的恐惧之中，”斯蒂文斯说。
"Seniors and vulnerable families are drowning in repairs bills and fears of losing their homes," Stevens said.
斯蒂文斯呼吁：“别再推卸责任，开始承担责任吧。圣凯瑟琳斯的居民承受不起再一天的拖延。” “北区邻里”在线调查的组织者之一戴亚·莱表示，受访者中只有 36.6% 的保险理赔获得全额批准，而受访者中 97% 都遭遇了洪水。在受淹者中，70% 将损失描述为严重或灾难性，她表示。
Stop pointing fingers, Stevens said "Stop pointing the finger and start taking responsibility. "The residents of St. Catharines cannot afford another day of delay." Daya Lye, one of the organizers of the Northend Neighbours online survey, said only 36.6 per cent of respondents — 97 per cent of whom were flooded — have had their insurance claim fully approved. Of those flooded, 70 per cent described the damage as severe or catastrophic, she said.
莱说，洪水以及维修的不确定性给居民造成了巨大的心理创伤，这从他们在调查中对自己感受的描述中可见一斑；她自己因家中安装了防倒灌阀，仅遭遇了轻微淹水。
The flooding and the uncertainty over repairs has taken a huge psychological toll on residents as shown by their descriptions of their feelings in the survey, said Lye, who experienced minor flooding because she has a backflow valve at her home.
“他们用的词是：不知所措、沮丧、紧张、抑郁、创伤后应激障碍、焦虑、创伤、无助、绝望，”她说。“人们感到毁灭性打击。有人写下了‘有自杀念头’。”
"They said overwhelmed, frustrated, stressed, depressed, PTSD, anxious, trauma, helpless, despair," she said. "People feel devastated. One person wrote 'suicidal'."
“那部分让我震惊，人们在情感上受创竟然这么严重。这绝对是一团糟。”莱说，部分受访者表示，他们的保险公司几乎立即采取了行动，洪水发生几天内就有理赔员致电，随后修复公司几乎马上就被派了出去。“人们的保险公司之间差异巨大，”她说。保险局表示，加拿大自然灾害引发的理赔持续飙升。
"That part was shocking to me how bad it was for people emotionally. It's definitely a mess." Lye said some respondents said their insurance companies leapt into action almost right away, with an insurance adjuster calling within days of the flooding and remediation companies sent out almost immediately after that. "There's a huge difference between people's insurance companies," she said. The insurance bureau said claims from natural disasters continue to skyrocket in Canada.
其数据显示，过去十年间，加拿大极端天气造成的保险损失年均超过 37 亿加元，高于前十年的 14 亿加元，以及再前十年的 8.83 亿加元。该局称，即使扣除通胀因素，自 1990 年代末和 2000 年代初以来，年损失已增加约 300%。
Over the last decade, insured losses from extreme weather in Canada have averaged more than $3.7 billion annually, up from $1.4 billion in the previous decade and $883 million in the decade before that, its data shows. Annual losses have increased by roughly 300 per cent since the late 1990s and early 2000s, even after accounting for inflation, the bureau said.
保险局呼吁各级政府立即采取措施，通过以下步骤降低加拿大面临的极端天气风险：利用土地利用规划，限制在洪水和野火高风险区域进行开发。
The insurance bureau called on all levels of government to take immediate steps to reduce Canada's exposure to extreme weather events through steps such as: Using land use planning to restrict development in areas at high risk of floods and wildfires.
为房主提供激励，鼓励其投资切实可行、负担得起的措施，以减轻极端天气损失。
Providing homeowners with incentives to invest in practical, affordable measures to reduce extreme weather damage.
投资建设有韧性的基础设施，保护社区免受洪水等极端天气风险侵害。
Investing in resilient infrastructure to protect communities from extreme weather risks such as flooding.