Scott County flood victims urged to report damage

BENTON, Mo. -- Scott County residents shouldn't put off reporting flood damage to county authorities, or cleaning up -- as long as they've got pictures.

"If they have flood damage, we need to know about it," Tom Beardslee, emergency management director for the county, said Tuesday. "That's the first thing because we are compiling a number to send to FEMA. They need to contact us so we can get their name to FEMA as soon as possible as well. We've got 17 confirmed so far."

Reimbursement may be available from Federal Emergency Management Agency's individual assistance for those property owners, Beardslee said.

Public assistance is a term used by FEMA to refer to public infrastructure such as road and bridges.

"We have some road damage, some bridges impacted," Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger said. "We are still finding damage, too."

Heavy rainfall flooded some places around the county that "probably haven't since 2011," Burger said.

Trey Hardy, assistant emergency management director for the county, is working with highway superintendent Norman Brant to get a damage total for the county's public property.

"We looked at a number of bridges, culverts, gravel roads," Hardy said.

Commerce has about 3.5 miles of asphalt damaged, according to Beardslee, "and the estimated cost is over $200,000."

Documenting damage with date-stamped images is important, as property owners and county crews then can begin cleaning up, Hardy said.

"FEMA has always said, 'Go ahead and make your repairs, but take pictures first,'" Beardslee said. "As long as they have pre-repair photographs, they can clean up."

Burger said the county was advised by Joel Evans, the Delta Area Economic Opportunity Corp.'s president and CEO, that assistance is available from that agency.

"They have a grant opportunity for Scott County residents that were displaced or have incurred bills due to the flooding that people can apply for," Burger said.

And "for those who do not have insurance or their damage exceeded their insurance," Beardslee said, "Scott, Bollinger, Cape Girardeau and Perry counties have a Longterm Recovery Committee, which is specifically for folk that get caught without insurance and have no way to fund their repairs. It is a limited pool of money that comes from faith-based entities like Catholic charities, but we do have some money that we can use to assist people if they don't have any other resources."

Beardslee said Scott County EMA is reminding those who own a building in a flood zone if it has substantial damage from flooding, there are National Flood Insurance Program requirements that must be met to rebuild.

"Substantial damage is defined by FEMA as 50 percent or greater of pre-flood market value," he said.

According to the program's requirements, if an owner is restoring more than 50 percent of that value, "we have to consider that as new construction, and they will need a floodplain permit order issued by this office backed up by an elevation certificate that shows when their construction is finished, the first floor is going to be one foot above the base flood elevation," Beardslee said. "That keeps them in compliance with the county ordinance and us in compliance with FEMA regulations."

Scott County Emergency Management has a special packet prepared for those with property in one of FEMA's flood zones in the county.

The 27-page packet also includes information and forms for individual assistance in addition to requirements to rebuild or replace a structure in a flood zone, Beardslee said.

To report flood damage to property in Scott County, contact the Scott County EMA office by calling the courthouse at (573) 545-3549 and asking for county EMA.