McCaskill says Joplin recovery funds are not in jeopardy

ST. LOUIS, MO (ST. LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO) - Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill says federal funding for Joplin is not in jeopardy.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said last week that funding for some long-term projects in the tornado-ravaged town would be put on hold because of Hurricane Irene.

McCaskill said she was worried initially but says she got a better explanation over the weekend.

"I do now realize that the only proposed shift was in order to meet immediate emergency needs in areas that have been impacted given how much money is left in the disaster fund between now and the end of the year," McCaskill says.

That fund has less than one billion dollars with the fiscal year ending in just over a month.

McCaskill says the U.S. House has passed the appropriation for the disaster fund for next year’s budget and she expects the Senate will do the same.

The Missouri Democrat says she’ll be watching to make sure Joplin gets the money it’s been promised.

Maria Altman, St. Louis Public Radio

Read More

President declares state of emergency in Missouri

President Barack Obama declared that an emergency exists in the State of Missouri on Thursday.

He ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the regions struck by the flooding that has swamped the state since June 1.

The action authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to coordinate all disaster relief efforts.

Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.

Emergency protective measures, limited to direct Federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding.

Read More

Parks director hopes FEMA will cover Big Oak Tree State Park cleanup

Big Oak Tree State Park will reopen before the end of the summer, according to the director of Missouri State Parks. 
The park is located within the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway.

Bill Bryan says that the park should be available for day use, but the visitor’s center and other facilities will not be ready until next year. The buildings are structurally sound, he says. They just need to be cleaned up.

Bryan says that cleanup costs have not yet been determined.

“We’ll work with FEMA like the other land owners in the floodway and look for some help with that so that Missouri taxpayers, who have already paid to build that park once, it’s only fair that if the rest of the nation benefited from the operation of the floodway that the rest of the nation should help pay for the restoration of the park as well,” Bryan said.

Bryan says that it is too early to tell if the floods caused any ecological damage to the park.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

Read More

Disaster assistance available in Cairo

CAIRO, IL (WSIU) - Disaster assistance advice is available in Cairo and other areas in southern Illinois.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Spokesman Sam Ventura says those who want damage assistance should apply by phone or on-line (www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance or by phone at 800-659-2955) before visiting the Disaster Recovery Center in Cairo.

"They're calling because they have had damages because of the flooding. And now that the counties have been declared disaster areas by the President, they can qualify for federal assistance," Ventura said.

Residents of the following counties are eligible for individual assistance: Alexander, Franklin, Gallatin, Hardin, Jackson, Lawrence, Massac, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, White and Williamson.

One center is located at Emerson Elementary School, 3101 Elm St. in Cairo. Hours are 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily (including weekends) through June 21, and 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily (including weekends and July 4) from June 29-July 6.

Another disaster recovery center will open on Thursday in Junction at Gallatin School, 5175 Route 13.

Jennifer Fuller, WSIU

Read More

Disaster aid to Missouri tops $21 million

Missouri residents have been approved for more than $21 million of federal disaster aid following tornadoes and flooding, according to the Associated Press.

That number is likely to keep rising. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Monday that more than $12 million has gone to individuals hit by the Joplin tornado.

The rest has gone to people affected by flooding in southeast Missouri, a tornado that struck St. Louis and other severe weather since May 9.

Read More

Blunt still wants FEMA to pay 100% of cleanup for Joplin and May floods

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt continues to insist that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, should reimburse local governments for 100 percent of the clean-up costs from the Joplin tornado.

FEMA will typically reimburse governments for 75% of disaster-related expenses, but the agency will occasionally pay more for large, atypical disasters. FEMA is paying 90% of the clean-up costs for the Tuscaloosa tornado earlier this year.

FEMA has decided that it will reimburse 90% for the Joplin tornado. But Senator Blunt is not satisfied.

"When they reach extraordinary proportions, like the flood in May, or like Joplin did, the local governments can’t pay 25% of the cost of the cleanup," Blunt said. "Now we’ve got that down in Joplin where it would be 10%. But in Katrina is was 100% and it didn’t matter whether it was Katrina in New Orleans or Katrina somewhere in rural Mississippi. It was 100% reimbursement."

Blunt says that the government should only step in when people can’t take care of certain responsibilities on their own, such as levees and infrastructure.

As an example, he says that the federal government shouldn’t recompense homes that are uninsured when the owners willfully chose to not carry insurance.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

Read More

Tornado rips through Joplin

JOPLIN, MO (KSMU) - Officials in Joplin fear the death toll from Sunday night's tornado is as high as 89.

Eastern Kansas and southern Missouri were pummeled by severe thunderstorms Sunday evening, the strongest of which struck Joplin around five o’clock.

The National Weather Service in Springfield says that the tornado’s path wasn’t particularly long, especially for a tornado of this strength, but it was devastating because it hit a heavily-populated area, according to meteorologist Andy Boxell.

"Some of the pictures we've seen thus far do suggest the tornado was likely at least half a mile wide in some locations, so it was a very large, a very strong tornado," Boxell said.

St. John Regional Medical Center in Joplin evacuated nearly 100 patients after the hospital took a direct hit from the tornado.

Some were moved to Freeman Hospital in Joplin while others were being moved to St. John’s Hospital in Springfield and to a hospital in Arkansas.

At least two National Weather Service survey teams will head to Joplin early this morning to begin to assess the damage.

"They'll go out and evaluate the structures that were damaged," Boxell said. "Meteorologists and engineers in the past have done studies to determine what kinds of wind speeds result in a particular amount of damage for a particularly built structure, whether it's a commercial building or a single-family home, an apartment complex, things like that, and so, by evaluating that damage, we should be able to start to get an idea that suggests how strong that tornado was."

Southwest Missouri isn’t out of the woods yet. Boxell says the area has a chance for strong to severe storms through Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has activated the National Guard following Sunday’s storms. President Barack Obama says the Federal Emergency Management Agency is working with state and local agencies in response to last night’s tornado. He says the federal government is prepared to provide help as needed.

Michele Skalicky, KSMU

Read More

FEMA practices major catastrophe in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, MO (KSMU) - What would you do if a catastrophic event occurred? FEMA is asking itself that exact question this week, and the federal agency is using Springfield as one of its locations to find out. The feds have teamed up with local hospitals, shelters and morgues to see just how prepared the region is for a major disaster.

Part of the old terminal at the Springfield-Branson national airport was turned into a gigantic triage room this week as military personnel from across the country practiced evacuating patients.

The 140 fake patients - in this case mannequins on stretchers  - arrived by local ambulances. They were whisked into the medical room before soldiers and FEMA personnel loaded them onto massive C-130 military airplanes.

Beth Freeman is the regional administrator for FEMA Region 7 in Kansas City. She says this simulation was based on how FEMA would respond to an earthquake out of the New Madrid Fault Zone.

“Springfield hospitals and airports will be, if this scenario would indeed happen, would be probably the first large hospital center that patients can get to. Those hospitals here will quickly be filled. They will need to move patients out to other hospitals. That’s what we are practicing.”

The C-130s took off, loaded with the mannequins and medical staff, and headed for hospitals in Kansas City, Omaha, Des Moines, and Shreveport, Louisiana. For KSMU News, I’m Jennifer Moore.

Read More

Illinois officials begin flood assessment

CARBONDALE, IL (WSIU) - Officials from the state and federal levels arrived in southern Illinois Monday to begin documenting damage to homes and businesses from this spring's flooding.

Staff from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA), FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration say information gathered during the damage assessment will be used by the state of Illinois to support a request for federal assistance.

IEMA director Jonathon Monken says five teams of state and federal officials will conduct damage assessments in about a dozen counties.

"Basically what they are focusing their attention and time on is counties that actually reported having private homes or significant private property damage in the course of the flood," Monken said. "So this is really the phase that we are really working on right now is the individual assistance phase, which is geared specifically towards those private properties."

Monken says he expects the damage assessments to be completed by the end of the week.

He says the assessments will be very thorough.

“They look for a lot of things. The water level in the house. How high it ultimately reached. Whether or not it hit the electrical system or affected the electrical systems. Whether or not basic life support functions are still there, meaning life support in terms of water, electricity, heating, air conditioning, things like that. And then they also look at whether or not there was any structural damage to the home itself,” Monken said.

The documentation of damage comes as the Ohio River continues receding, having threatened Cairo and swamped parts of Metropolis.

The Ohio River's retreat meant that a highway bridge linking Cairo to Wickliffe, Kentucky has reopened, and the curfew in Cairo was lifted Monday.

Governor Pat Quinn issued a state disaster declaration for the southern Illinois flooding on April 25th.

Brad Palmer, WSIU

Read More

FEMA head stresses the importance of earthquake preparedness

Some scientists say risks of another major earthquake from the New Madrid fault are minimal.

But FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate insists the threat to Missouri is real.

Administrator Fugate was a featured speaker at a conference on earthquake preparedness for business and industry last week at Saint Louis University.

Fugate said that getting ready for earthquakes isn’t just government’s responsibility.

“A major player in this is the private sector, and how prepared they are, to get their facilities up and running, to begin those operations again and provide those critical services that will be needed by everybody in the days after an earthquake,” Fugate said.

Fugate said businesses like gas stations, grocery stores, pharmacies, and utility and cell phone companies must be ready to provide services following a disaster.

Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio

Read More