Barbour asks for aid for flood victims|[04/25/08]

Published 12:00 am Friday, April 25, 2008

No timetable on answer

Even though Gov. Haley Barbour asked Thursday for presidential disaster declaration, it will be a month or more before damages from the Flood of 2008 can be tallied.

The request came on the first day since March 5 officials recorded a decline in the Mississippi River at Vicksburg. Officially, this morning’s reading was 50.8 feet on the gauge near the river bridge. That’s down 0.1 foot from a crest at 50.9 feet, reached six days ago.

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A continued slow fall is forecast here. Upstream, however, the river was falling fast, including a 2-foot drop at Memphis in 24 hours.

Barbour’s action followed his tour Monday of riverside counties most heavily affected by Mississippi River flooding, including Warren. The declaration would also include Washington, Wilkinson and Bolivar counties and allow local governments to apply for federal money through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Individual Assistance to make repairs.

Barbour told President Bush in his letter that flooding along the river and in backwater areas has damaged or destroyed 343 homes in the four counties and has caused millions of dollars of damages.

“I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that the effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments, and that supplementary federal assistance is necessary,” Barbour said.

Damages in Warren County and the others listed in the request were assessed earlier this week by preliminary disaster teams comprised of representatives of FEMA, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, Small Business Administration and local officials. In Warren County, the team reported 119 residences were found to be affected by flooding and 34 destroyed. Ninety-eight percent of the residents affected were deemed to be of low income.

“It is likely there is more damage than what is in the report because the teams did not get to visit each and every area of counties, and were restricted to tours by boat,” said MEMA spokesman Lea Stokes. “Anyone who has damage to their homes should report it to local emergency management officials.”

Flood stage at Vicksburg is 43 feet, a level passed on March 29. The river is not expected to dip below flood stage again for at least three weeks.

It is not clear how long it will take for Bush to respond to Barbour’s request. The president has already made a disaster area declaration for areas of southern Missouri affected by flooding and is reviewing requests from governors in Arkansas and Illinois.

The current request from the governor does not include assistance to help local communities repair public infrastructure that has been damaged by flooding, such as bridges and roads. Stokes said it is likely the additional request will be made by Barbour, but infrastructure cannot be assessed with any accuracy as floodwaters have yet to recede.

Any federal assistance for infrastructure will prove critical to repairing LeTourneau Road, much of which has been impassible for more than two weeks.

Bringing the road back to pre-flood condition will cost between $500,000 and $1 million, county supervisors said in talks Thursday with industries that use the road to reach their businesses.

Mississippi RiverTODAY’S STAGE: 50.8 feetFELL: 0.1 footFLOOD STAGE: 43 feetSTEELE BAYOU:Landside: 91.0Riverside: 100.0″It’s about how much of the bed has washed away,” Board President Richard George said, adding the speed at which the water recedes will dictate when county engineers can inspect the road for safe travel.

“It’s not like pulling the plug on a bathtub,” George said.

Rebuilt and raised following Mississippi River floods in 1973 and 1997, the formerly gravel road is the main access route to LeTourneau Technologies’ construction yard and Martin Marietta Aggregates’ rock yard.

Resurfacing its asphalt has been paid for at various times using funds from the Mississippi Department of Transportation Office of State Aid Road Construction.

Sections now under water are believed washed away in the river waters covering the plant. Even if major damage is not revealed, weight limits on heavy trucks and single, bi-directional traffic remain possible.

Those limits are a major source of concern for the two companies and for builders of the Southeast Supply Header natural gas transmission pipeline.

Project officials offered supervisors $21,300 for an easement across the south end of county-owned LeTourneau boat landing to allow for a 300-foot southerly shift in the pipeline’s route.

While offers by the company to repair sections of Glass Road and other county rights-of-way have been well-received, supervisors are wary of the pipeline’s 100,000-pound drill rig’s effect on a river bank left soft and mushy by weeks above-average stages.

“It’s a deep concern,” District 4 Supervisor Bill Lauderdale said. “It’s possible it just might be enough to slide into the river.”

Officials with the 270-mile, multistate pipeline also offered to apply matting to the road to help all three firms access the river. Supervisors referred the company to the state on the matter.

“We need to get in there as quick as possible,” said Pete L. Woody, a project manager for rights of way.

Language in the transaction’s paperwork protecting the county from liability remains a sticking point on the easement deal.

Mike Gray, general manager of the offshore oil rig maker’s local plant, said much of its laid-off workforce of 1,100 won’t be able to return to work for at least 10 more days.

“I’ve put everything on hold as far as my steel,” Gray said, adding those shipments totaled about 9,000 tons.

Launch dates for two, 240C-class jack-up drilling rigs from its riverside facilities are now in limbo, Gray said, adding part of one is flooded in 8 inches of water.

Martin Marietta’s deliveries may be hampered severely enough to reconsider its Warren County location.

“If (LeTourneau) can’t bring steel on the roads, then we can’t bring our rock. It’s our low-cost yard for central Mississippi. We ramp down, or go somewhere else,” said Mark Hardy, area sales representative for Martin Marietta Materials, the rock yard’s Paducah, Ky.-based company.