No disaster aid for Greenup County

By KENNETH HART - The Independent

GREENUP July 07, 2008 11:54 pm

— Greenup County sustained heavy damage from a series of severe storms that blew though the region last month.
But not heavy enough, apparently, for the county to qualify for state and federal disaster aid.
Judge-Executive Bobby Carpenter said he received a letter last week from the Kentucky Emergency Management Agency informing him that the county’s request for emergency financial assistance to repair damage from the June 3-4 storms had been rejected.
“The severity and magnitude of the damages are not beyond the capabilities of the commonwealth, local government and volunteer agencies,” wrote Lisa Gash, recovery supervisor with KEMA. “Therefore, we will not be requesting a major disaster declaration for this incident.”
Carpenter said he was disappointed, but not particularly surprised, by the decision.
“We just didn’t have enough (damage) and our neighbors didn’t have enough,” he said.
According to Carpenter, state and federal agencies tend to view disasters on a regional, rather than county-by-county, basis. The counties around Greenup, Carter and Lewis in particular, had only minor damage, he said.
Greenup County sustained about $700,000 damage to public property from the storms, which packed torrential rains, nickel-sized hail and 70 mph-plus winds. Roads were flooded, culverts and bridges were washed out, power lines were knocked down and trees were uprooted. The heavy rains also caused a number of mudslides, particularly along Ky. 7.
The storms, which dumped 6-7 inches of rain on Greenup County over a 24-hour period, caused the most severe weather-related damage in the county since the ice storm of 2002, officials said.
Carpenter said he also figured the county’s chances of receiving federal disaster aid were slim because of the recent severe flooding in the Midwest and the resources being devoted to that recovery effort.
“We’ll make it,” he said. “This just puts us behind about six months.”
Carpenter said he did receive a bit of good news recently from the state Transportation Cabinet.
“They’ve informed me that they’re going to get me about $150,000” to help repair county roads that were damaged by flooding, he said.
Carpenter said he would be looking at other options to repair the county’s five closed bridges. He said the spans on Big White Oak, Hungry Hollow and Lowder Fork would receive top priority since school buses travel over them.
The other closed bridges are on Kenton Furnace Lake and Hook Curry Fork.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.