Federal agency again rejects public-disaster declaration

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October 2, 2008

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Thu Oct 02, 2008, 07:57 PM CDT

By Derek Spellman

dspellman@joplinglobe.com

NEOSHO, Mo. — The federal government has now thrice denied a request for a public-disaster declaration for Newton County in the wake of the May 10 tornado.

In a letter reviewed Thursday by the Newton County Commission, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reiterated that its original denial would stand. The county had sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA, on Aug. 25, asking the agency to reconsider its decision to deny the appeal originally lodged on behalf of storm-hit counties by Gov. Matt Blunt.

FEMA had denied the appeal on the grounds that the three counties hit by the tornado — Newton, Jasper and Barry — would have needed to sustain about $6.94 million in cleanup costs and damage in the public sector to qualify, based on their population. The three sustained about $6.2 million in damage.

A public-disaster declaration would have allowed the county to be reimbursed for the cost of debris removal and disposal.

“The lack of a federal disaster declaration does not mean that there were not losses incurred by the state and local communities in the (May) tornado,” FEMA wrote in its response to the commission’s August letter, “but rather, based on the results of the joint federal, state and local damage assessments, the damages, as noted above, are within the response capabilities of the state and local government.”

Newton County Presiding Commissioner Jerry Carter on Thursday vowed that the commission would send still another letter to FEMA, asking the agency to spell out exactly what criteria disqualified the county, and how the agency determined that the cleanup fell within local and state response capabilities.

“I don’t know what they are referring to,” Carter said.

Carter said the county faces between $3 million and $4 million worth of debris cleanup from the May tornado. He said the county’s total budget usually runs about $8 million and has no funds to mount a cleanup operation of that scale, which would entail hiring contractors with the equipment to collect debris piled by roadsides and to dispose of those materials.

“We don’t have the resources to do that,” he said.

Carter said the county would continue to press its request with FEMA and try to enlist the help of Missouri’s congressional leaders. If nothing else, county officials hope they can determine if there are other options, he said.

Carter acknowledged that in the intervening time, the county has “precious little” resources to conduct a cleanup operation, although he reiterated that the county would continue trying.

“We are very disappointed, but we are not through trying yet,” he said.

Chronology

Earlier this year, the state requested a public-disaster declaration for Newton, Jasper and Barry counties in the wake of the May 10 tornado. FEMA rejected that request in mid-June, prompting a formal appeal by Gov. Matt Blunt on July 3. That appeal was denied in mid-July, prompting first a letter from Blunt and then a letter from Newton County asking FEMA to reconsider its denial.

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Federal agency again rejects public-disaster declaration

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr wants the city to distribute weather radios to all Joplin homes that don’t have one. That’s 11,000 radios. Do you think that’s a good use of $300,440?

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