Most seeking FEMA flood help from Warren CountyLargest payout in Tunica County
Published 11:45 am Tuesday, June 14, 2011
More individuals and households have applied for financial assistance in Warren County than any of the 14 Mississippi counties declared disasters due to flooding on the Mississippi River.
An update Monday from Federal Emergency Management Agency showed 836 applications filed locally through Saturday have resulted in $1,155,074.31 paid to people and families. In Tunica County, where record levels on the river closed the doors on nine casinos for most of May, payouts total $3,000,308.16 on 392 applications. More than $5.6 million in aid has been distributed in Mississippi, the agency said.
Volunteer donations also have ramped up. Truckloads of supplies have streamed into The Salvation Army’s distribution center on Washington Street, including one Monday from the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. An array of supplies and home-cleaning essentials was distributed in the Kings community over the weekend by the American Red Cross.
Meanwhile, the Mississippi Department of Transportation said some stretches of Mississippi 465 between U.S. 61 North and Eagle Lake are dry, but the road will not be reopened to traffic until more inspections are made over the next two weeks.
“Some of the shoulders have scoured out and we have some slides going,” MDOT Central District Engineer Kevin Magee said, adding crews must clear trees and limbs after water recedes from spots still inundated by up to 3 feet of water.
Motorists with property at Eagle Lake or dry parts of 465 have detoured about 20 miles north of Redwood, to Low Water Bridge Road, to check on their homes. Use of the Yazoo Backwater Levee has been restricted to vehicles since the river crested 14.1 feet above flood stage May 19, at 57.1 feet. The river fell seven-tenths of a foot this morning. A combination of fast-falling backwater and continued dry weather locally could result in readings below the 43-foot flood stage by Saturday, said Jeff Graschel, service hydrologist with the National Weather Service Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center in Slidell, La.
DiamondJacks Casino will reopen to customers Wednesday at 3 p.m. after a press event earlier in the day. A building behind the main casino barge used in the past for concerts and employee meetings sustained “a lot of damage” but won’t affect normal business, general manager Felicia Gavin said.
Vicksburg and Warren County governing boards are considering buyouts of flood-damaged homes using federal disaster grant money.
Obtaining clear title to land for homes held by an heirship has been a time-consuming obstacle in past floods. Free title searches for flood victims have been offered only by out-of-state counsel thus far, District 2 Supervisor William Banks said.
Buyouts were offered to 16 homeowners inside Vicksburg following the 2008 floods, according to the city. Six applications were completed on properties outside the city in 2008, but failed final approval in cost-benefit calculations performed by Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
Local governments must agree to pay 25 percent funding matches to FEMA money paid to any property owner for selling a flooded home, the same match required for cities and counties in the flooded areas to be reimbursed for overtime pay and debris cleanup. Once purchased, relocation payments are made and the land is returned to public use as green space, with no new construction. Structures in the most flood-prone areas must be raised above the base flood elevation.
Individual assistance payments total $1.1 million in Warren County, second-most among the 14 Mississippi counties declared federal disasters due to the flood. More than $3 million has been paid out in Tunica County.