Head of FEMA says disaster reimbursement still in the works

After seeing what she called the “incredible” destruction last week’s ice storm caused, acting Federal Emergency

Management Agency administrator Nancy Ward said officials are pushing for a major disaster declaration.

That would allow the state and local governments who have shelled out millions of dollars responding to the storm and its fallout to get reimbursed by the federal government.

“I can tell you and commit to the state of Kentucky that we are processing this declaration as quickly as possible,” Ward said.

Gov. Steve Beshear said the cost of the damage from the storm has surpassed $50 million. President Barack Obama will decide how much of that would be covered by the federal government and Ward didn’t know if the paperwork had reached the president’s desk for his consideration.

Individuals whose homes have sustained roof damage or burst pipes could also federal reimbursement if FEMA sees fit, but that assessment is “down the road” still, Beshear said.

“We want to look at the impact to households and see if it’s severe and the magnitude is overwhelming,” Ward said.

Ward spent Wednesday afternoon in Grayson County, off the Western Kentucky Parkway in one of the hardest-hit regions of the state.

“I can tell you from what I saw today, it was incredible. And we only saw a very small portion today,” said Ward, who has been with the agency eight and a half years. “Just the power lines and the debris and the impact of mile after mile after mile of downed power lines.”

About 200,000 Kentucky electric customers remained without power Wednesday afternoon, more than a week after the storm blew across the state. That’s down from a record 769,000 homes and businesses that were in the dark and cold at the height of the storm’s aftermath.

And two more deaths have been attributed to the storm, putting the total to 27 confirmed weather-related deaths. The two most recent confirmed deaths came from Johnson County where one person suffered a heart attack while clearing tree limbs and another person, who was dependent on oxygen, died while power was out to the home.

Power problems have been widespread, but Beshear said generators have been distributed to most key sites, such as shelters, nursing homes and hospitals. A hospital in Crittenden County shut down except for its emergency room and shuttled its patients off to other hospitals because it is on a back-up generator.

The 4,120 National Guard troops activated by the governor have distributed more than 1 million bottles of water and more than 500,000 meals, Beshear said. They’ve been joined by troops from Florida and West Virginia who have also brought dump trucks and front and end loaders to help clear roads.

And late Wednesday, 233,000 water customers across the state served by 53 water systems remained under boil orders. Brigadier Gen. John W. Heltzel, deputy commander of the Kentucky National Guard, said several of the eight water districts that remained out of power and shut down on Monday were up and running again.

“We are still working on the different water facilties around teh state in terms of generator power,” Beshear said. “That has become now our major focus once we got all the shelters and nursing homes taken care of.”

Overall, Ward said FEMA’s swift reaction and coordination with Kentucky officials in responding to the storm’s clean-up shows a marked improvement over the agency’s much-criticized handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in New Orleans.

“We are not going to wait for a local government to fail, a state government to be overwhelmed and then come in,” Ward said.

She especially praised local and state officials for their “truly an extraordinary effort.”

“The real unsung heroes of this devestating event are those local communities’ emergency mangers, sheriffs, judges, mayors (who) have just done an extraordinary job to bring their communities together,” she said. “This could last days, maybe a couple more weeks.”

– Ryan Alessi

Filed Under: Featured • Federal Government • State Government • Steve Beshear