By Dominik Lobkowicz
Preliminary totals of damages to public entities from the December ice storm fall about $170,000 short of the threshold for an official disaster declaration, according to Maine
Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Lynette Miller.
The three-day storm hit the state on Dec. 21 and coated much of the state in beautiful, but dangerous, layers of ice.
Berries glisten and birch trees bend under ice from a December storm that may lead to a disaster declaration for the state. (D. Lobkowicz photo, LCN file) |
Buy this photo |
State and local road crews were out in force spreading salt and sand; fire departments and tree crews were busy dealing with downed trees and limbs; and over 160,000 estimated
Central Maine Power and Emera Maine customers were without power at some point during or immediately following the storm.
In January, estimates of the damage to public entities such as municipalities, counties, or quasi-municipal agencies such as water districts during the period of Dec. 21 to
Jan. 1 totaled around $3.7 million; double the roughly $1.85 million threshold required for the Governor to request a formal disaster declaration from the President, Miller said
in an interview Feb. 18.
The $1.85 million figure is based on a threshold of $1.39 in damage per capita, Miller said. For counties to be eligible to receive funding, they need to meet a $3.50 per capita
threshold, she said.
The figures for the assessment
include only damages for public entities, not private citizens, Miller said.
“We have looked at the eligibility for programs for people, but that does not look as promising, so we are continuing to look at options other than FEMA,” she said.
According to Kristin Draper, the finance and administration officer for Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency, damages that could be reported for public entities include
costs for activities such as: overtime for towns that operate their own road crews; debris management and removal such as hiring a wood-chipping company; operating a warming
shelter; apparatus time for fire departments including both fire trucks and smaller equipment like chainsaws; and for law enforcement or communications personnel brought in
specifically to deal with the storm.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency was asked in early January to assist in the preliminary assessment of the storm damages – a move that, if all parties agree on the
numbers, could make a disaster declaration request go more smoothly, Miller said.
However, FEMA found much of the estimated $3.7 million in damages to be ineligible, and so MEMA went back to collecting more data, Miller said.
“There were some costs associated with the road treatment we had the sense would be eligible, and turned out not to be, in at least this initial assessment,” she said.
Miller deferred to FEMA as to the specifics behind the ineligibility, but Dennis Pinkham, the external affairs director for the FEMA region that includes Maine, said he was not
willing to comment on any ineligibility because Maine has not yet submitted a final request.
“We had responded to the State of Maine’s request to complete preliminary damage assessments,” Pinkham said. “We continue to work with Maine on that request.”
The apparent ineligibility of the road treatment costs affected both state and county damage totals, causing preliminary totals to fall short of the minimum.
According to Draper, Lincoln County was previously thought to have met its threshold of $120,600, but the preliminary information she received Feb. 13 showed the county short
over $99,500, largely due to the disqualification of over $70,000 in sand, salt, labor, and equipment costs of work the Department of Transportation performed in Lincoln
County.
Draper was confident there were more eligible costs from Lincoln County that were not reflected in the preliminary total she received.
MEMA has continued to reach out to municipalities and counties for more information on damages, but the preliminary Feb. 13 totals showed the state as a whole was still about
$170,000 short of its threshold, Miller said.
At that point, Washington County was the only county to have met its threshold, she said.
“Our goal this week is to get the best data we possibly can and then the Governor’s office will be able to determine whether or not they can go forward,” Miller said.
There is a time limit of 30 days beyond the end of a disaster event, on when the formal disaster declaration request would need to be made, but Maine has received an extension
until Feb. 21, Miller said.
If the state is found to have sustained the minimum $1.85 million in damages, Washington County would then be immediately eligible for funding and would be looked at town by
town, Miller said.
MEMA would also look again at the other counties to make the case that they should be added to the disaster declaration, she said.