ST. PAUL – State Rep. Paul Anderson, R-Starbuck, announces Pope County is receiving $65,250 from the state for flood assistance following severe weather last March and April.
“This is good news for local citizens, especially since Pope originally was not included in a disaster declaration and therefore ineligible for federal aid,” Anderson said. “In the end, help is being provided by the state and local governments will be responsible for 25 percent of the recovery costs.”
Anderson said Pope County did not participate in the initial joint local/state/Federal Emergency Management Assistance preliminary damage assessment because damage it identified didn’t meet the threshold to qualify.
Sometime after the federal declaration, two townships reported damages to the county emergency management director. The state verified $87,000 in eligible damage to township roads and asked FEMA to add Pope County to the assistance list. While FEMA denied that request since it a 30-day deadline had expired, federal refusal to aid a county that was otherwise eligible for federal assistance allows Pope to be eligible for state disaster assistance.
A similar but unrelated situation occurred in Dakota County south of St. Paul. The boards of commissioners in Pope and Dakota each declared local emergencies and submitted requests for state disaster assistance for eligible costs.
-30-