Successful FEMA appeal could mean nearly $200,000 for local agencies

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

The announcement by Gov. Mike Pence Tuesday morning that FEMA granted the state's appeal for federal assistance for severe winter storms of early January met with surprised delight from Putnam County emergency leaders.

"That's good news. Wow," Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Tom Helmer said. "That is good news."

Contacted separately, Assistant Director Dave Costin echoed Helmer's sentiments, who told the Banner Graphic the decision likely means significant reimbursement for emergency agencies within the county for their response to the Jan. 5-9 winter storm event.

Putnam is among 19 Indiana counties now declared eligible to receive FEMA grant money. The state can also request assistance for additional counties.

"This has been an arduous process, but the outcome is good news for Hoosiers," Gov. Pence said. "These grants will provide millions to local governments and select nonprofits that are hurting financially, and I congratulate the counties, cities and towns for their perseverance."

In Putnam County, the grants could total nearly $200,000 in grants to agencies such as the Putnam County Highway Department, Greencastle Public Works, local school corporations and power companies like Duke, Parke County REMC and Hendricks Power.

Like most counties on the list, Putnam will receive 48 hours of snow assistance, a period that Costin said had financial claims of approximately $250,000 between the agencies.

FEMA public assistance grants will pay 75 percent of eligible expenses for damage to roads, bridges, utilities, debris removal, buildings' contents and equipment, water control facilities, parks and recreational facilities, and others, as well as emergency protective measures like traffic control and rescue operations in the aforementioned counties.

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security will work with FEMA and local agencies to document allowable expenses. Each agency will be subject to a one-on-one FEMA audit.

Helmer said the news is a surprise turnaround from FEMA, which had denied assistance in other recent emergencies.

"That surprises the heck out of me because we got turned down for the floods last April. For the tornadoes in November, counties were turned down," Helmer said.

Other counties granted public assistance include Boone, Clay, Hendricks, Huntington, Jasper, Kosciusko, Madison, Morgan, Newton, Noble, Owen, Parke, Sullivan, Tipton, Vigo, Wabash, White and Whitley.

Noble and Whitley counties will be provided 72 hours of snow assistance.

Counties that were denied assistance include Allen, Benton, Blackford, Carroll, Cass, Clinton, DeKalb, Delaware, Elkhart, Fountain, Fulton, Grant, Hamilton, Hancock, Henry, Howard, Jay, Johnson, LaGrange, Lake, LaPorte, Marion, Miami, Montgomery, Rush, Shelby, Vanderburgh, Vermillion, Warren and Wells.

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  • Obama punishes his enemies of which we are one being a red state. He will not allow us the aid.

    -- Posted by keith on Tue, Apr 22, 2014, at 3:29 PM
  • OOOPS Looks like Putnam is one of 19 counties that won the appeal....

    -- Posted by keith on Tue, Apr 22, 2014, at 3:35 PM
  • Keith, might want to read a little more carefully before going on a rant. Care to take back that statement about your president?

    -- Posted by ASouth on Thu, Apr 24, 2014, at 8:55 AM
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