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FEMA Assistance

Last week’s severe storms hit the Ohio Valley hard, leaving literally tens of thousands of area residents and businesses without power for days.

In many areas of the valley, brutal winds ripped trees out from the roots and snapped others like twigs, causing trees and limbs to fall on power lines, homes and vehicles.

After the storms moved through, many people described the scenes on their properties as looking like a “war zone.”

There was a report of a tornado sighting near Piedmont, but most other areas simply experienced unusually damaging winds when the storms blew through.

Severe storms like these cause a major inconvenience for residents and businesses. Lengthy power outages alone can be oppressive, as people are forced to purge the food in their refrigerators, live without lights or air conditioning and try to make it by with their daily routines completely disrupted. Businesses can lose a great deal of money by being forced to close up shop until power is restored.

Those with serious damage to their properties have to deal with their insurance companies and begin the process of making costly repairs and cleaning up what amounts to a big mess.

In the wake of these damaging storms, some discussions surfaced about the possibility that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should offer assistance with this situation.

But when it comes to FEMA assistance, don’t hold your breath.

In post-Hurricane Katrina America, FEMA appears to be a different animal than it was in the past.

Just ask Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who has openly expressed his frustration with the federal agency. In early June, tornadoes swept through Northwest Ohio, leaving extensive damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure, and claiming the lives of six people.

Despite the devastation, FEMA has consistently rejected Ohio’s requests for federal support for those storm victims.

“The rationale given for denying our request, that the magnitude of devastation wasn’t severe enough for federal assistance because recovery could be handled by state and local governments and volunteer organizations, is, quite frankly, unconscionable,” said Strickland.

In the recent past, our area has been successful in getting federal assistance through FEMA.

Even road slips caused by heavy rains have been repaired through federal disaster funding assistance. But in today’s world, it seems that Hurricane Katrina has raised the bar when it comes to what kind of disasters qualify for emergency relief from the federal government.

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