FEBRUARY 4, 2010 ISSUE
FEMA Approves Federal Disaster Declaration for Watauga, Avery
Declaration Provides Public Assistance Funds to Governments, NCDOT, Nonprofits
On Wednesday, February 3, Watauga County Emergency Management Public Information Officer Brent Graybeal announced that Watauga County, along with Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Haywood, Jackson, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell and Yancey counties, received a federal disaster declaration from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for recovery from the winter storms and flooding that occurred between December 18 to 25, 2009.
“The declaration will provide public assistance to state and local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency work and the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged facilities,” said Graybeal in a press release. “The North Carolina Department of Transportation will use the money for debris removal and infrastructure repair, utility companies for costs to restore services and local governments to repair disaster-damaged facilities and costs associated with debris removal.”
According to Watauga County Emergency Management Official and Fire Marshal Steve Suddreth, Watauga County conducted an initial assessment on damage caused by the December 2009 storms at the beginning of January. In the middle of January, the state came to the county and conducted a preliminary damage assessment and, in late January, FEMA came to the county and conducted a preliminary damage assessment.
In order to receive PA (public assistance) funding from FEMA and the state, Watauga County had to prove that more than $11.5 million in damages were incurred in the county because of the holiday storms, said Suddreth, and that figure had to be proven to both the state and FEMA.
“There is a threshold of $11.5 million in damages to get a [public assistance] emergency declaration approved,” explained Suddreth last week.
Preliminary damage assessments indicated costs to recover from the back-to-back winter storms would exceed $12.5 million when fully totaled. According to Suddreth, the Governor’s Office estimated $13.3 million in damages from the storms statewide, which helped persuade FEMA to approve the declaration.
According to Suddreth, individuals in Watauga County did not incur enough damage from the storms to be considered for IA (individual assistance) funds from FEMA and the state. “We didn’t quite meet the threshold for IA,” said Suddreth.
“A declaration for assistance to individuals and households was not received,” said Graybeal in a press release.
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