Flooding not bad enough for help from feds

Oct. 8– No federal disaster relief will be forthcoming to Hardin and Hamilton county residents struck by flash flooding on the night of Sept. 22, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency announced Thursday.

The storm which dropped up to eight inches of rain here in two hours caused an estimated $1.25 million in damages to local homes and property. A total of 14 homes in Hardin County were affected, the Hardin County Emergency Management Agency reported.
In a statement, TEMA said an examination of the damages and impact from the flooding emergencies “do not reach the federal government’s threshold for a federal disaster declaration.”

According to the state agency, “both counties have reported that affected individual households have received tremendous response from nongovernment and faith-based volunteer organizations as part of local recovery efforts.”

“Networking and rapid response by supportive civic and community groups greatly aided individuals in Hardin and Hamilton Counties by providing goods and services to speed their recovery,” said Charles Bryant, assistant director of response for TEMA.

The state and preliminary damage assessment teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency also compared uninsured flood damages and emergency response costs against the standards to request federal disaster public assistance for government and other public entities. While still significant, the flooding costs were insufficient to qualify for FEMA’s disaster reimbursement program under the federal Stafford Act.

To receive a declaration for federal assistance under the Stafford Act, the state must show that the financial impact of damages to government infrastructure and the cost of response efforts statewide is more than $7.4 million, which is the threshold established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The FEMA administrator can recommend a federal disaster without qualifying damage assessments only if there has been significant loss of life.

TEMA said it continues to assist county emergency management where possible to match individual needs with non-governmental programs, such as those offered by members of the Tennessee Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters.