FEMA assesses $10 million in Dane County damages
Armed with lists of damaged properties supplied by Dane County towns and villages, Federal Emergency Management Agency assessors made the rounds Thursday surveying the damage from recent severe storms and floods.
FEMA's damage assessments for public and private sectors in Dane County total an estimated $10,451,735.
That figure does not include agricultural property damages, which are estimated by local officials to be much greater than losses from the public and private sectors. Agricultural damages are handled by the Farm Security Administration.
Initial damage assessments for the 30 counties under the state of emergency as declared by Gov. Jim Doyle total over $470 million. The preliminary assessments indicate more than $200 million of residential damage, $45 million of damage to businesses and $146 million of agricultural losses. More than $75 million has been spent on public assistance.
As part of their preliminary Dane County tour, officials looked mostly on the eastern side of Dane County, and they reported seeing a variety of impacts ranging from minor to major.
Following the assessments, FEMA will submit a report to Doyle, who will then make the decision whether or not to request disaster status from the White House.
FEMA spokeswoman Hannah Vick said that FEMA, for its preliminary disaster assessment, relies on local officials and emergency management to show it the damage in the communities. If the county is declared a disaster area, then individuals should register with FEMA, and an inspector will make house calls to take a more in-depth look at each case.
FEMA's role in disaster relief is to ensure that people are safe and have a sanitary place to live, Vick said. The agency is not designed to restore homes and communities to their original condition.
"For individual assistance, FEMA does not have a threshold for a disaster declaration, so there isn't a set amount of money or houses that have to be damaged to get a disaster declaration," Vick said. "We look at a lot of different criteria, not only do we look at amount of damage, but we also look at how many people have insurance, how many people have flood insurance, and we also look at what communities have special needs. We don't want to make formulas, we want to make sure we're looking at all the information."
For public assistance, such as repairing roads and bridges, there is a threshold that officials use to determine whether or not a community will receive assistance. That calculation is based on a formula that takes into account costs of damage, population and other factors.
Dane County Emergency Management population protection planner J. McClellan said that, particularly in the case of floods, the true costs of damages reported are often not known until much later.
"These are estimates only," McLellan said. "We know the numbers will fluctuate, that's just a fact with flood waters. Any time there's damage, they are always going to be estimates. It could end up costing a lot more or less. We don't chase people down afterwards to see what they paid."
On Thursday FEMA assessors and Dane County Emergency Management representatives visited eight locations to assess individual damages:
- Village of DeForest reported private sector damage of $258,553.
- City of Sun Prairie reported private sector damage estimated at $351,000.
- Village of Marshall reported private sector estimated damage of $3,649,500.
- Town of Medina reported private sector estimated damage of $2,422,500.
- City of Stoughton reported private sector estimated damage of $479,570.
- Town of Dunn reporting private sector estimated damage of $151,000.
- City of Monona reporting private sector estimated damage of $40,000.
- Windsor/Morrisville did not report damage estimates.
In assessing public sector damage, FEMA traveled to five locations:
- Village of Marshall reported public sector damage estimated at $594,500.
- Town of Medina reported public sector damage estimated at $2,106,500.
- Town of Sun Prairie reported public sector damage estimated at $131,712.
- City of Sun Prairie reported public sector damage estimated at $101,100.
- Town of Vermont reported public sector damage estimated at $265,800.
"Right now with the numbers they are not comparing apples to apples," McClellan said. He gave the example of a damaged bridge that may have high financial costs, but overall the damage may not impact as many people as a neighborhood of flooded homes.
Anyone who has had any kind of storm or flood damage should register with FEMA, said Paul Enz of FEMA communications relations. The process of reporting damages to one's town or village officials is an important step in instigating the initial assessments, but this is not the same as registering with FEMA for assistance, Enz stressed. He urged individuals whose homes were damaged in the weather to register with FEMA and let them assess the damage, rather than assuming the damage is too minor to receive aid.
Officials are working overtime to travel to communities and then compile their reports to get the assistance process started, Vick said. While the time frame is different for every situation, FEMA officials assessed Fond du Lac County on Tuesday, and it was declared a disaster area by Thursday afternoon.
An additional seven counties received federal disaster declarations on Thursday, bringing the state's total to 19 counties. In addition to Fond du Lac County, Iowa, Marquette, Grant, Kenosha, Rock and Sheboygan counties were declared disaster areas.
FEMA is conducting preliminary damage assessments in four counties on Friday: Calumet, Green Lake, Jefferson and Lafayette. FEMA will assess damage to Walworth County Saturday.
FEMA opened its fourth disaster recovery center Thursday at the high school in Columbus. Recovery centers are open in Soldiers Grove, Viroqua and Reedsburg as well. The centers are open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
FEMA is opening its fifth center Friday at the Milwaukee County Rehab Center City Campus at 2711 West Wells St. in Milwaukee. Additional centers are expected.
Flood victims who plan to visit a recovery center are asked to first register for assistance by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or TTY 1-800-462-7585 or visit www.fema.gov.
The governor announced that the Department of Health and Family Services will provide emergency food assistance to residents of the first seven Wisconsin counties to be declared disaster areas as a result of recent flooding. Residents of Columbia, Crawford, Milwaukee, Racine, Richland, Sauk and Vernon counties will have from through Friday, June 27, to apply for the assistance. Applications are available at: http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/FoodShare/flood/.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has issued almost 5000 applications for low-interest loans for Wisconsin flood victims.
The 229th Engineer Company of the Wisconsin Army National Guard, based in Platteville and Prairie du Chien, has 110 personnel assisting with safety and emergency road repair in Sauk, Vernon and Richland counties. Guard members are also overseeing sandbagging efforts in Jefferson County and operating traffic control points in Rock, Columbia and Jefferson counties.
The Department of Corrections reported that approximately 157 inmates have been assisting with sandbagging and debris removal in nine locations throughout southern Wisconsin.
Associated Press
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National Guard members man a post set up at a closed bridge in Jefferson after the Guard was deployed to help with flood control.
