Officials cite possible aid for tornado-hit farms

May 16, 2008 11:05 pm

— By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com
Federal, state and local officials on Friday detailed disaster assistance for farmers and ramped up for countywide-cleanup campaigns in the wake of last weekend’s tornado.
U.S. Sens. Christopher “Kit” Bond, R-Missouri, and Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, visited the area and stopped for a press conference at the damaged dairy farm of Merlin Christy, along Route NN, just north of Jute Road in Newton County. As a small group of volunteers worked to repair the Christy’s home and barn, the two senators fielded questions from a crowd of approximately two dozen people about relief that would be available to the agricultural sector.
Gary Pearman, who lives near the Christy farm and runs a beef cattle operation, said key issues that agricultural producers confront include replacing or mending of fences, and removing debris across hayfields and pastureland.
Damage to fences is not covered by many insurance policies, Pearman said, and yet the replacement of lost fences is among the most pressing needs.
“We started building fences the next day,” Pearman said of his operation.
Pearman and other farmers also said the scale of the cleanup on larger agricultural properties is formidable, and in some cases might take a bulldozer to remove.
Bond said farmers could obtain assistance in fencing and large-scale-debris removal through the Farm Services Agency (FSA), a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Tim Kelly, the director of the state FSA, joined Bond and McCaskill on their visit to the area and said farmers could be eligible for either low-interest loans or cost-sharing programs through the agency.
Some in the crowd asked about the possibility of getting storm sirens for Newton County’s rural areas.
Gary Roark, emergency management director for Newton County, was touring the storm-hit areas with the two senators and told the crowd that he did not think sirens could be installed to effectively reach every area of the county, particularly sparsely populated areas. And even those who live in areas with sirens do not always hear or heed them, he said.
Roark instead urged households to be equipped with weather-alert radios, which continuously receive weather information directly from the National Weather Service.
“I think a weather radio is better than a siren,” he said.
Roark on Friday also outlined cleanup efforts that would unfold in the coming weeks.
Local officials on Friday were awaiting the official word that Newton County qualified for both a private and public disaster declaration by the government. Damage assessment teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) completed their surveys Wednesday night, Roark said.
“Everyone has agreed there is no doubt we will get one,” he said, citing assurances from both state and federal officials.
Roark said about 24 volunteers from Americorps have arrived in Newtonia and will begin coordinating volunteer cleanup efforts.
The county also should be releasing information next week about debris disposal, Roark said. The county will ask residents to put any storm debris by their curbs or roadsides for collection by contract crews.
Although normally the state limits what people can and cannot put out for collection, Roark said those requirements will be relaxed because of the severity of the damage wrought by last weekend’s tornado. Refrigerators or other appliances containing Freon, for examples, are normally excluded from collection, but this time will be allowed.
“We are trying to make it as simple as possible,” he said of the cleanup work.
The crews will likely make several runs through the county after the program begins, he said.

By the numbers
County officials have estimated that the damage in the private sector could exceed $30 million based on damage surveys by teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). The public sector sustained about $4 million in damage, according to the estimates.

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