April 9, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee is awaiting word from President Donald Trump on a request for a Major Disaster Declaration to make federal recovery assistance available to city and county jurisdictions including DeKalb County impacted in February’s significant flooding and severe storms.
Charlie Parker, DeKalb County’s Emergency Management Agency Director reported to the county budget committee last month that damage to county roads from the flooding was significant.
“Recently I have been in contact with the local highway department making road damage assessments because of the flooding. There is an estimated $80,000 in damage to roads and we’re looking at getting state and federal assistance for that,” added Parker.
“The severe flooding has left many Tennessee jurisdictions unsure about how to fund the unexpected need to repair infrastructure and pay for their emergency measures,” Gov. Lee said. “I believe we have demonstrated the need for federal assistance is necessary and if granted, will lessen some of the financial burden on local resources for flood response and recovery.”
Since the heavy rain, major flooding, and severe storms began on Feb. 6, 83 of Tennessee’s 95 counties have reported some level of flood damage and severe weather impact.
Gov. Lee’s request specifically asks the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to make the Public Assistance (PA) program available to 58 Tennessee counties impacted by the flooding and severe storms from Feb. 6, 2019, onward.
The PA request includes the counties of: Anderson, Bedford, Bledsoe, Blount, Campbell, Carter, Cheatham, Claiborne, Clay, Cocke, Coffee, Decatur, DeKalb, Dickson, Dyer, Fentress, Gibson, Giles, Grainger, Greene, Hamblen, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Hawkins, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Lake, Lauderdale, Lewis, Lincoln, Marion, Marshall, McNairy, Moore, Morgan, Obion, Overton, Perry, Rhea, Roane, Robertson, Scott, Sequatchie, Sevier, Smith, Tipton, Unicoi, Union, Van Buren, Warren, Wayne, and Weakley.
On March 8, 2019, Director Patrick Sheehan of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) requested FEMA send federal teams to Tennessee to begin joint Preliminary Damage Assessments (PDAs) to quantify the magnitude of the flooding damage at the county level.
Based on the FEMA joint PDAs, the requested counties demonstrated they had met or surpassed federally-established loss thresholds to qualify for relief through FEMA’s PA program.
The qualifying losses for county, municipal, state agency, and utility infrastructure impacts and emergency expenditures totaled $68.3 million due to the flooding and severe storms.
FEMA’s PA program reimburses local and state governments, utilities, and certain private, non-profit organizations for emergency protective measures and debris removal, and for repairs to roads and bridges, water control facilities, buildings, and equipment as the result of a federally-declared disaster.