 FEMA administrator Craig Fugate made the concession after meeting
with representatives of Illinois' congressional delegation, led by
Durbin, who had called FEMA's withholding of aid in the wake of the
Feb. 29 storm hasty, unacceptable and "out of touch with reality."
Last weekend, FEMA announced that insurance, charities and state
money could cover costs linked to the storm that tore through five
southern Illinois counties and pounded Harrisburg, where seven
people were killed. The twister also destroyed 98 homes and severely
damaged 31 others in the town of roughly 9,000.
FEMA also denied disaster aid to residents in several southern
and northern Missouri counties hit by the storms. Aid was approved
for Indiana and Kentucky communities that sustained damage during
the same week.
Durbin told reporters after meeting with Fugate that FEMA made
its determination using an incomplete tally of damage estimates
gathered five days after the storms -- too soon to get a true hold
on the devastation or other special factors, including the area's
pronounced joblessness and poverty.
"Perhaps if they had come a few days later (to calculate the
damage), it would have been a different conclusion," Durbin said,
noting that at the time of the calculations "a lot of devastation
was still unresolved."
"They didn't come up with all the information in a timely way.
We're going to take care of that now," Durbin added. Within days,
"we're going to give more information to FEMA, and I can tell you
that administrator Fugate was open to it."
Durbin said the exact amount of storm-related damage remains
elusive, "but it's in the millions of dollars."
FEMA has said its decision on March 10 not to provide federal
funds was based on a various factors -- such as how much homeowners
insurance would cover, the state's size and its ability to take care
of those affected -- and not simply on whether there was serious
damage in Harrisburg. The assessment included volunteer and charity
resources.
In Harrisburg, Mayor Eric Gregg called FEMA's gift of more time
for damage assessment "a godsend for us" as more tornado damage
still was being spotted in buildings, even two weeks after the
storms.
"This is huge for us to go in and do what we need to do. It gives
us a chance," he said, from the Saline County city where the storm
harmed "hundreds and hundreds of homes -- everything from slightly
damaged to gone, literally wiped off the city map."
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The Illinois Emergency Management Agency has said that even if the
state had enough money to cover the home damage, it doesn't have a
program or the authority to help individual homeowners or renters
the way FEMA could.
A federal disaster declaration would have made people eligible
for grants to help with home repairs, temporary housing, replacing
personal and household items, crisis counseling and legal services
-- some of which aren't covered by homeowners or renters insurance.
The state also is asking FEMA for funding to help local
governments cover some of their expenses in recovering from the
storm, including repairs to tornado-damaged infrastructure and
overtime costs of emergency personnel.
Local officials couldn't immediately provide a dollar figure for
their losses.
"We have seen, unfortunately, devastating damage in the poorest
part of our state and poorest part of Harrisburg, for that matter,"
Gov. Pat Quinn said in Chicago. "We'll provide every ounce of
information that we can summon in order to help this application."
[Associated
Press; By JIM SUHR]
Associated Press Writer
Sophia Tareen contributed to this report from Chicago.
Copyright 2012 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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