Waiting for news

Owners of flood-damaged property in Jay County should know in a couple of weeks how much help they’ll be getting from the federal government.
“We will compile our damage assessment within another week and make our decision within a week or so,” Arvin E. Copeland, director of the division of response and recovery of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security told a standing-room-only crowd at the Jay County Courthouse auditorium Wednesday night.
Copeland explained that there are two possible scenarios ahead:
•A presidential declaration of a natural disaster could be issued, which would kick in grant assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
•The flooding and related severe weather damage could fall short of a presidential disaster declaration, triggering loan assistance from the Small Business Administration (SBA) instead of grants to affected homeowners.
Regardless of which declaration is finally made, assistance to business owners will be limited to SBA loans rather than outright grants, Copeland stressed. And that loan assistance has its limits. “They do not pay for business interruption (losses),” he said.
The key to getting the FEMA declaration, Copeland said, is meeting the threshold of a natural disaster on a statewide basis.
“Jay County is leading the pack in terms of reporting damage,” he said. “It’s my understanding that Jay County has met that threshold.”
Federal disaster guidelines require that a minimum of 25 homes suffer major uninsured damage in a given county and a minimum of 200 homes fall into that category in the entire state.
Jay County Emergency Management director Ralph Frazee said so far major damage has been reported to 44 Jay County homes and 30 Jay County businesses.
However, on a statewide basis, the total number of homes suffering major damage in the late February storms and flooding stands at 132. Some homes damaged by tornadoes in southern Indiana don’t qualify for the list because the losses were covered by homeowners’ insurance.
“You certainly qualified in Jay County, and we’re working our tails off in the rest of Indiana,” said Copeland.
“The call is going to be made by the executive director (of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security). We’re going to do these damage assessments until the numbers stop coming in. If we don’t reach that (threshold) in a week or so, we’re going to have to make a decision whether to go with the SBA declaration.”
Copeland and assistant director Phil Brown said the FEMA declaration would be significantly preferable to local property owners.
“FEMA brings an array of assistance,” Brown said. “There’s quite a bit more disaster assistance available through the FEMA declaration. … We know you’re waiting. We want to ensure that we get the most assistance possible for you.”
If a FEMA declaration is made, the amount of assistance available for homeowners will be determined on a case-by-case basis depending upon the scope and severity of the damage.
“You will be sitting across the table, one-on-one,” said Copeland.
Wednesday’s meeting was arranged by Portland Mayor Bruce Hosier in an effort to speed the disaster relief process.
“We’ve got to be thankful we had no loss of life or serious injury,” Hosier said. “I know all of you would like to get a check tonight. … (But) it is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight.”
A number of those on hand expressed concerns about immediate out of pocket expenses for things like furnace repair.
Hosier said there’s an effort underway to help. “We’re going to establish donation funds (at local financial institutions),” he said, “to allow those who weren’t affected to help their friends.”
“You pull together as a community and do what you do best,” said Copeland.
Frazee said 280 individuals have filed reports of flood damage of some sort with his office so far.[[In-content Ad]]