FEMA Denies Illinois' Request For Federal Flood Assistance
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Illinois officials are considering other options after the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied the state's request for federal assistance to help residents, businesses and municipalities in 21 counties affected by flooding more than two months ago.
Nineteen counties along the Mississippi River calculated $15 million in damages, but it wasn't enough to meet the federal government's population-based damage threshold of $18.1 million.
In a letter notifying the state of the denial, FEMA administrator W. Craig Fugate said the damage from floods and severe storms isn't beyond the capabilities of the state, affected municipalities and voluntary agencies.
On Feb. 26, the state submitted a request for individual assistance to help residents and businesses recover, and public assistance to reimburse municipalities for disaster-related expenses. Both forms of federal assistance were denied by FEMA.
"This is yet another example of how the federal government's population-based threshold for determining assistance works against states with large metropolitan areas," Illinois Emergency Management Agency director said James K. Joseph director said in a news release issued Thursday.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency plans to reach out to the affected counties to see if there's any additional information that would support an appeal of the denial for either type of assistance, Joseph said.
"It's disappointing that time and time again FEMA denies our small and rural communities fair consideration when determining the need for disaster assistance," Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois said in a statement released Friday.
A change in law is needed to help downstate Illinois before another major storm strikes the area and communities are left without any federal assistance, Davis said.
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