FEMA won't send aid to Illinois flood victims

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has rejected an appeal from Illinois to help victims of March flooding in the southern part of the state including Alexander and Union counties.

The storm hit March 18, causing widespread flash flooding across Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich asked for federal help soon after the storm, but it was denied in early April. The latest rejection came on an appeal of that earlier decision. The state was seeking help for residents and businesses in 15 Southern Illinois counties and assistance to governments to defer recovery costs in 21 counties.

"Their fairly standard reason was that it was not deemed beyoind the capacity of the state or local governments to recover," said Patti Thompson, communications manager for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

The requests for help identified $12 million in costs for local governments and damage to 659 homes, including 228 that sustained major damage or were destroyed.

"Their rough guideline, based on the state's population, is that we are supposed to have in the neightborhood of $15 million in damages for the state of Illinois," Thompson said. "One of the factors we would have hoped they would look at is that the flooding was over a wide area of Southern Illinois in March and a month before they had a major ice storm and were still in the recovery period from that. It has been a very, very difficult year in that part of the state."

Illinois did not submit a federal disaster request after the ice storm, which struck the region Feb. 11.

The denial, which was delivered last week to local officials, leaves a big hole in the Union County budget, said Dana Pearson, the county's emergency service and disaster agency coordinator.

Pearson said his figures showed that Union County absorbed about $700,000 in costs as a result of the flood. Add in the damages reported by other governments and the total reaches about $1 million countywide, he said.

The damages suffered by residents included eight homes destroyed, a similar number that sustained major damage and another 50 or so that were affected by the high water, he said.

Pearson, who works part time as the disaster coordinator, also drives a truck for the county highway department during the construction season. While the temporary crews usually are kept on payroll through mid-November, he said he has been told they could be released from their jobs within weeks.

In Missouri, residents and businesses in 35 counties were declared eligible for individual assistance to help recover from the rains and flooding, while 47 counties were granted federal help to defer the cost of cleanup and repairs. Residents of Illinois counties adjacent to the Missouri counties were eligible for loans from the Small Business Administration, but those loans haven't been popular, Pearson said.

"Today was the last day for people to file for small business loans, but most are not interested in those," he said. "Those were loans they have to pay back."

The county has relied on state aid in the form of inmate labor and equipment loans to help with debris removal, he said. And private groups are also providing aid to individuals.

"We are working with a church group that has worked with other people in New Orleans, and we are hoping they can help some," Pearson said. "There are several people without furnaces or hot water heaters."