SEMA files appeal for counties not approved for individual assistance

The State Emergency Management Agency is taking steps to get more assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for homeowners.

SEMA submitted an appeal to FEMA Wednesday after it denied individual assistance to 19 counties in Missouri.

The state is requesting FEMA reconsider its decision.

FEMA provides assistance to primary residences that are uninhabitable and not covered by insurance if they are in counties that are approved.

In the appeal, SEMA said combined coverage from FEMA and the Small Business Association would cost $7.4 million. It also lists several reasons FEMA should reconsider. The appeal said more than half of the affected families in Cooper, Howard, Laclede and Macon counties were classified as low income.

It also said the number of low income families averaged 35 percent for the 19 counties denied assistance.

It also said a large percentage of the jobs in the affected counties are agricultural, and will be the most adversely affected by flooding.

Howard and Cooper counties are included on the list under the appeal.

Bryan Kunze from Howard County Emergency Management said Wednesday he did not want to get Howard County resident’s hopes up about getting added to the list to be able to apply for assistance.

“I don’t really know if it’s going to change a whole lot. We had a lot of homes affected, but there was only just a very few that actually had major damage to them,” Kunze said.

“We had some water, you know, got up around foundations, stuff like that, got in the air conditioners and stuff like that, but didn’t get into the living quarters of the house,” he said.

Kunze said FEMA had already visited the county twice, and based on the rules it follows by, he does not expect to see a change.

He said after the flood in 1993 there were many buyouts, so not nearly as many people live in the flood area, meaning not as many homes in the county were destroyed.

FEMA will now review the appeal from the state.