DeWine’s June request for flood disaster declaration denied, sends new request | News, Sports, Jobs

Gov. Mike DeWine’s June request for a presidential disaster declaration for Washington County and seven other counties due to flooding in April was denied. DeWine has sent another letter requesting the declaration. A car is pictured partially submerged in floodwaters in a parking lot behind the Marietta post office on April 3. (File photo)

Gov. Mike DeWine has filed a second request for a federal disaster declaration for Washington County and seven other Ohio counties following severe storms in April that caused flooding, landslides and tornadoes.

On June 3, DeWine sent a letter to President Joe Biden making his initial request that Biden issue a disaster declaration for the April storms that caused damage in Washington, Morgan, Meigs, Monroe, Noble, Guernsey, Belmont and Jefferson counties, despite the Federal Emergency Management Agency determining that the damage was too low to qualify for federal assistance.

In that letter, DeWine stated that the federal threshold for receiving public disaster assistance from FEMA is $21.7 million, and a FEMA/State/Local Joint Preliminary Damage Assessment (Joint PDA) conducted the week of April 29 for 10 counties, including the eight for which DeWine requested the declaration, showed total damage in the eight counties at $17.4 million, while the local damage assessment for the eight counties showed total damage of $50.5 million. DeWine alleged in the letter that FEMA used Google Earth images and typically only one indicator to evaluate locations, rather than requesting additional documents from local officials and using multiple factors to evaluate locations.

The June 3 request was denied, according to a second letter DeWine sent to Biden through FEMA on July 19, in which he again requests a federal disaster declaration for the eight counties. He also asks for approval of the state Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

According to the EPA’s website, the Hazard Mitigation Program provides funding to states, territories and tribes for long-term hazard reduction after a major disaster has been declared.

“I appeal the denial of my June 3, 2024, request for a declaration of major disaster for the State of Ohio,” DeWine wrote this in the letter dated July 19. “This request was made in response to flooding, landslides, severe storms and tornadoes from April 1 to 4, which damaged critical infrastructure, such as roads and culverts, in multiple counties.”

He wrote in his July letter that the June request had been rejected on June 19. The rejection stated that the damage was not so serious and extensive that it exceeded the capacity of the state and the affected local governments to bear it.

DeWine wrote in the letter that he has provided additional documentation and more specific information from local governments and the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.

“Upon reconsideration, you will see that the totality of the circumstances in the areas affected by the disaster exceed the capabilities of the state, and that federal assistance is necessary,” DeWine wrote in the letter.

Under the Code of the Federal Regulations in Section 206.48(a)(1), FEMA considers several factors when evaluating a governor’s request to declare a major disaster. DeWine discussed some of these requirements as they relate to the eight-county flooding in his letter.

“We evaluate the estimated costs of federal and non-federal public assistance relative to state population to get a sense of the per capita impact within the state,” says the code section. “We use a per capita amount of $1 as an indicator that the disaster is large enough to require federal assistance, and adjust this amount annually based on the consumer price index for all urban consumers.”

It also says that the threshold for compensation to qualify for government assistance is $1 million per disaster.

DeWine discusses in his letter the problems he has with the per capita impact threshold. He said that Ohio’s per capita income indicator does not always result in a fair outcome for the state’s underserved and rural counties because they lack the population or tax base of larger metropolitan areas.

He asked FEMA to consider equity and the totality of all factors in their assessment of the disaster, not just the state’s per capita indicator.

“For example, the population of the eight affected counties is only 2.4% of the total state population, and it does not seem logical to apply the entire statewide per capita requirement to this local event,” DeWine wrote in the letter.

He also said the per capita impact across the eight counties ranged from $7.57 to $204.86, which is more than the amount FEMA has set for the per capita threshold of $4.60.

“We look at the extent to which state and local government actions have contributed to reducing disaster losses for the disaster in question … if a state can demonstrate in its disaster request that a national building code or other mitigation measure likely reduced losses from a particular disaster, we will consider that in evaluating the request,” says the code section. “This could be particularly important in disasters where, as a result of mitigation, the estimated damage from public assistance has fallen below the per capita indicator.”

DeWine discusses measures taken to mitigate risks ahead of the April floods.

“Prior to this disaster, the state and local communities used FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and other mitigation grants to install flood walls and purchase land in high-risk areas… homes and businesses along the Ohio River are no longer experiencing the devastating impacts they once did,” DeWine wrote in the letter.

“In addition, individuals, businesses and local governments took measures to reduce losses during the event by moving items from the first floor and evacuating low-lying areas.”

According to the code section, FEMA also looks at an area’s disaster history over the past 12 months to better assess the overall impact of an event on a state or municipality. This takes into account federal disaster declarations and governor’s declarations, and the extent to which the state has spent its own funds.

“The state is also in a situation where it has been hit hard by multiple disasters over the past 24 months, some of which have also affected this geographic area (Jeffesron, Monroe, Guernsey, Noble and Meigs),” DeWine wrote in the letter. “Since 1985, Ohio EMA has administered the State Disaster Relief Program for 91 incidents with a total value of more than $113 million.”

He said during the joint PDA for the April floods that FEMA estimated damages in the eight counties at $17.4 million and that the state’s contribution of even 75 percent of that amount would far exceed typical contributions for smaller incidents.

“When we take together the FEMA-validated damage amounts, state and local mitigation actions, the state’s disaster history over the past two years, and the availability of resources, they warrant a major disaster declaration to support rebuilding efforts in these rural Appalachian communities,” DeWine wrote in his letter.

DeWine wrote in his letter that the biggest impact of April’s extreme weather was damage to critical infrastructure in areas with low tax revenues, making it unfeasible to pay for repairs out of those areas’ own budgets.

Rich Hayes, director of Washington County Emergency Management, previously told The Times that damage to roads in Washington County from the extreme weather is estimated at just over $2 million.

Washington County Commissioner James Booth agrees with DeWine that federal assistance is needed in Washington County and other counties and that there really needs to be some relief for Washington County and its residents.

“I commend the governor for not taking ‘no’ for an answer,” said Booth.

He also said that the US spends millions in other countries, but they also need to take care of their own countries.

“The federal government, it’s like they’re turning their noses up at us,” he said.

FEMA confirmed that DeWine has filed an appeal for a major disaster declaration for the April storms and that the appeal is currently under review. They did not comment further on the situation.

Today’s latest news and more in your inbox