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Federal Disaster Relief Heading to East Ohio

File Photo Cemetery Road resident Larry Dunn looks at the flooding damage on Bruney Alley behind his Martins Ferry home in February.

Local counties in East Ohio are expected to receive federal disaster money following heavy storms in February that wrecked bridges, roads and utility lines.

U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, announced this week that President Donald Trump signed a federal disaster declaration to allow for the money to be appropriated.

“This disaster declaration will go a long way in helping reassure Ohio communities impacted by February’s devastating floods that they are not alone,” said Brown. “This designation will get desperately needed resources to these 18 counties so that they can recover and get back on their feet. Now the Administration must move quickly to get these resources to counties in need.”

“I am glad the president made this much needed declaration,” said Portman. “It will allow our affected communities to get much-needed federal assistance following this winter’s terrible storms.”

Brown and Portman wrote a letter to the president urging him to act swiftly to approve Gov. John Kasich’s request for a Presidential Disaster Declaration for Ohio counties affected by the severe flooding between Feb. 14-25.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich made the request and urged the president to act swiftly, they said.

In addition to to Belmont and Monroe counties, other Ohio counties expected to receive help include Adams, Athens, Brown, Columbiana, Gallia, Hamilton, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Pike, Scioto, Washington and Vinton.

For Martins Ferry City Service Director Chris Cleary, the news is good. The city applied for funding to repair Bruney’s Alley that was virtually destroyed during the storms, but he said he hopes the funds will cover the majority of the cost.

“Usually for disasters, you get money for rebuilding,” he said. “What we’re going to do there is replace what’s there with a bigger culvert. FEMA will pay for replacement of existing infrastructure so that will help out. We’ll never turn down what they will give us.”

Cleary said the Bruney’s Alley project is expected to cost about $27,000.

Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton said he had not heard of the news regarding the federal funding being OK’d, but said the county continues to work diligently on the storm damage issues.

“We’re working extremely hard on this issue since the incidents happened,” Dutton said Thursday.

Dave Ivan, Belmont County Emergency Management Agency director, said the county applied for FEMA assistance for $13 million worth of damaged that occurred between Feb. 14-25.

Ivan said now that the declaration has been OK’d, FEMA officials in the next week or so will meet with county officials and then municipalities that applied for money. How quickly something gets fixed depends on the size and scope of the project, he said.

“This isn’t something you recover from overnight,” said Ivan. “It could take two or three years to get everything back to the way it was because of the magnitude of the damage and type of damage.”

Ivan said it is possible to get reimbursed by FEMA if a municipality fixed something on an emergency basis.

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