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HAY RIVER - It's been nearly a year since spring flooding left parts of Vale Island and the Hay River Reserve under water and residents are still waiting for compensation from the government.

"We kind of know a river runs through here," said Kyle Reid, a Hay River resident since 1984, who's lived in Old Town for 16 years.

"But we got popped pretty good last year."

Reid's lawn on 101 street, for instance, became the home on of a large ice chunk and his crawlspace filled with three feet of water.

He said he filed a claim for about $8,000 in damages and met with an adjuster in July or August of last year. He said it was his understanding that he was signing an agreement with the adjuster on what he would be compensated.

"That's what my expectations would be," he said.

"We just didn't expect it to take this long."

On Thursday, around 10 area residents were told by government bureaucrats they will receive letters in seven to 10 days telling them whether their compensation was approved.

Eric Bussey, territorial emergency management co-ordinator, said approved letters will not contain cheques, which will be sent out at a later date. Reid feared this was just opening the door to more negotiation on compensation.

Bussey cautioned the disaster assistance policy is not insurance, explaining it can only kick in after an event causes widespread and significant damage, and the town asks the department of municipal and community affairs (MACA) for the policy to be invoked.

Robert McLeod, minister of MACA, said the delay in payments occurred because there was some confusion over who would be compensated, after a worker with the department gave verbal commitments to some residents, telling them if they got repair work done and provided the government with receipts, they would be paid back.

"They applied for compensation based on information they received from a representative of the government," he said, adding initially all claims had been denied.

He said the department would honour that commitment and the private claims will amount to about $40,000 to $50,000. McLeod said compensation for Hay River and the Hay River Reserve were never an issue and have been approved.

"They had a lot of public infrastructure that needed repair and that has been approved," he said.

Terry Molenkamp, senior administrative officer in Hay River, said the town hasn't received government compensation on its claim yet, but it wasn't the government's fault.

"I've still got some questions to answer," she said on Wednesday.