County assesses damage from flooding
On March 10, Wayne County officials received an assessment of the damage from the floods that have ravaged the county for nearly two weeks.
During a briefing for the Wayne County commissioners, John Wise, Emergency Management Agency director, said that while he is unaware of any serious injuries or deaths, the damage to private and public property was widespread when flash flooding caused by heavy rains and melting snow swept through the region.
While the damage was extensive, Wise advised the commissioners that the county would not meet the threshold set by the federal government to request a disaster declaration.
“I can’t minimize the individual losses because there is a tremendous amount of dollar damage,” said Wise, but “as far as individual assistance and public assistance we had a lot of water but we didn’t have the kind of damage necessary for a disaster declaration.”
According to Wise, under FEMA guidelines only major structural damage, not damage to the contents of buildings, can be factored into the total amount necessary to reach the threshold for a federal declaration.
“We’ve had situations where a house can have eight feet of water in the basement and that is considered minor damage,” Wise said, adding that even the loss of a reported $100,000 of inventory by Lehman’s Hardware Store in Kidron would not count toward the total.
Similarly, lost business due to interruptions at businesses like the Grande Ranch and 3 Amigos, where flooding caused the businesses to close temporarily to conduct cleanup operations, does not factor into the disaster relief calculations.
Wise noted that while he initially believed there might be a possibility that the county would meet the FEMA threshold during this flood event due to damage to county roads, when the totals were in “we didn’t even come close to the dollar threshold that they look for to make it through the gate for a declaration.”
“There are a lot of people who have experienced a lot of hardship and damage,” said Commissioner Ann Obrecht, including sewer officials at the county and municipal level who have struggled to contend with the high volume of water going through the sewer systems.
Almost two weeks after the initial influx of water began, flooding continues to be an issue.
With Killbuck Creek still more than one and a half feet over flood stage, and culverts and creeks filled with a combination of water, ice and debris, the county has racked up a list of road closures longer than Wise can ever remember seeing.
One of those roads is SR 3.
When asked about the status of the Mohicanville Dam, Wise said that the Army Corps of Engineers was releasing only small amounts of water through the dam.
Wise noted that he spoke with Corps officials as recently as 2005 to discuss the impact the dam has on the area along SR 3 and was advised that the dam was “part of a flood control program that they work and their concerns are down river.”
Because control of the dam rests with the Corps, “we have to live with what we have,” said Wise. “If the opportunity for a mitigation project presents itself we’d like to address those, but we haven’t gotten there yet.”
One very positive thing has come out of the recent flooding.
According to Wise, the last of the county’s communities that he wanted to get into the flood insurance program – Shreve - has expressed an interest in doing just that.
By doing so local residents will have the option of purchasing flood insurance and will be eligible for federal assistance if a catastrophic flooding event occurred in the future.
During a briefing for the Wayne County commissioners, John Wise, Emergency Management Agency director, said that while he is unaware of any serious injuries or deaths, the damage to private and public property was widespread when flash flooding caused by heavy rains and melting snow swept through the region.
While the damage was extensive, Wise advised the commissioners that the county would not meet the threshold set by the federal government to request a disaster declaration.
“I can’t minimize the individual losses because there is a tremendous amount of dollar damage,” said Wise, but “as far as individual assistance and public assistance we had a lot of water but we didn’t have the kind of damage necessary for a disaster declaration.”
According to Wise, under FEMA guidelines only major structural damage, not damage to the contents of buildings, can be factored into the total amount necessary to reach the threshold for a federal declaration.
“We’ve had situations where a house can have eight feet of water in the basement and that is considered minor damage,” Wise said, adding that even the loss of a reported $100,000 of inventory by Lehman’s Hardware Store in Kidron would not count toward the total.
Similarly, lost business due to interruptions at businesses like the Grande Ranch and 3 Amigos, where flooding caused the businesses to close temporarily to conduct cleanup operations, does not factor into the disaster relief calculations.
Wise noted that while he initially believed there might be a possibility that the county would meet the FEMA threshold during this flood event due to damage to county roads, when the totals were in “we didn’t even come close to the dollar threshold that they look for to make it through the gate for a declaration.”
“There are a lot of people who have experienced a lot of hardship and damage,” said Commissioner Ann Obrecht, including sewer officials at the county and municipal level who have struggled to contend with the high volume of water going through the sewer systems.
Almost two weeks after the initial influx of water began, flooding continues to be an issue.
With Killbuck Creek still more than one and a half feet over flood stage, and culverts and creeks filled with a combination of water, ice and debris, the county has racked up a list of road closures longer than Wise can ever remember seeing.
One of those roads is SR 3.
When asked about the status of the Mohicanville Dam, Wise said that the Army Corps of Engineers was releasing only small amounts of water through the dam.
Wise noted that he spoke with Corps officials as recently as 2005 to discuss the impact the dam has on the area along SR 3 and was advised that the dam was “part of a flood control program that they work and their concerns are down river.”
Because control of the dam rests with the Corps, “we have to live with what we have,” said Wise. “If the opportunity for a mitigation project presents itself we’d like to address those, but we haven’t gotten there yet.”
One very positive thing has come out of the recent flooding.
According to Wise, the last of the county’s communities that he wanted to get into the flood insurance program – Shreve - has expressed an interest in doing just that.
By doing so local residents will have the option of purchasing flood insurance and will be eligible for federal assistance if a catastrophic flooding event occurred in the future.
Published: March 16, 2011
