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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 26, 2008 No. 08-066 GOVERNOR REQUESTS FEDERAL DISASTER DECLARATION FOR 49 COUNTIES Governor Kathleen Sebelius has signed a letter to President George W.
Bush requesting a federal disaster declaration for 49 counties impacted
by a severe storms accompanied by large hail, lightning, high winds, tornadoes,
and torrential rains resulting in widespread destruction to homes businesses,
utilities, and public infrastructure beginning May 22, 2008, and ending
June 16, 2008. Counties named in the request are: Barber, Bourbon, Butler,
Brown, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Clark, Clay, Comanche , Cowley, Crawford,
Decatur, Dickinson, Edwards, Ellis, Franklin, Gove, Graham, Harper, Hodgeman,
Jackson, Jewell, Kiowa, Lincoln, Linn, Logan, Meade, Mitchell, Montgomery,
Morris, Ness, Norton, Osborne, Pawnee, Phillips, Pratt, Republic, Riley,
Rooks, Rush, Saline, Seward, Sheridan, Smith, Stafford, Sumner, Thomas,
Trego and Wallace. The governor's request is for Public Assistance to help these counties
restore public infrastructure damaged or destroyed by the storms. The
request also asked for the Hazard Mitigation Program to be activated. "This assistance will help impacted counties get back on their feet
as quickly as possible," said Sebelius. "People need water to
drink, electricity for their homes and businesses, and safe roads and
bridges for transportation. These federal funds will help get life back
to normal for the people affected by these storms." Earlier today Sebelius received a 10-day extension on the deadline to
request a federal disaster declaration. The governor made the extension
request to FEMA on June 23, citing the need for more time to conduct additional
preliminary damage assessments to determine which counties will meet federal
guideline requirements for Public Assistance. "These tornadoes and storms did damage over a very large area," said Sebelius. "We need time to make sure that every qualifying property is documented and a fair damage assessment made." Chapman and Manhattan damages do not meet federal requirements for
Individual Assistance Damage estimates indicate that the cities of Chapman and Manhattan have
not met the federal threshold to qualify its citizens for Individual Assistance.
To qualify for FEMA Individual Assistance — assistance directly
available to individuals, families and businesses — a county must
have a significant number of damaged homes with only a small percentage
of them with insurance coverage. Other factors that are considered are the economic impact to a community and the number of deaths and injuries resulting from the disaster. SBA loans available in Chapman The damages in Chapman did meet the threshold to qualify the community
for low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. To
meet this threshold there must be a minimum of 25 homes and/or businesses
with more than a 40 percent uninsured loss. SBA disaster loans are also being made available to individuals and businesses
in Clay, Dickinson, Geary, Marion, Marshall, McPherson, Morris, Ottawa,
Pottawatomie, Riley, Saline, Wabaunsee and Washington Counties. Disaster loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace their damaged or destroyed primary residence. Homeowners and renters are eligible for up to $40,000 to repair or replace
damaged or destroyed personal property. Businesses of any size and private
non-profit organizations may borrow up to $1.5 million. The filing deadline
to return applications for property damage is August 19, 2008. The deadline
to return economic injury applications is March 20, 2009. For additional information, call the SBA's Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or go on-line to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov or the SBA's website at www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance. Hearing impaired individuals may contact SBA at (800) 877-8339 -30- |
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