Published: October 06, 2008 11:52 pm         

Oklahoma counties are denied aid to help with flooding damages

The White House has denied a request Monday for federal assistance to aid five Oklahoma counties that suffered millions in damages from floods in mid-September.

Gov. Brad Henry made the request to the White House Sept. 19, seeking aid for individuals and businesses in Alfalfa, Grant, Kay, Major and Woods counties.

Nearly 200 homes and businesses in and around Blackwell, Burlington, Capron, Dacoma, Fairview, Jefferson, Nash, Pond Creek and Tonkawa sustained damage after Tropical Depression Lowell delivered record rainfall to parts of Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.

In a release Monday, Henry said he was “very disappointed” with the president’s decision.

“I am very disappointed the White House has denied individual aid to flood victims in northern Oklahoma,” Henry said. “I thought we made a very strong case for federal support.”

A request for public assistance for 10 counties is still pending. Henry is seeking assistance for Alfalfa, Cimarron, Dewey, Ellis, Grant, Harper, Kay, Major, Woods and Woodward counties.

“We are also seeking public assistance to repair roads and other infrastructure in the region, and we will push for that aid in the days to come,” the governor said.

The 10 counties seeking public assistance incurred an estimated $8.8 million in infrastructure damage and response costs as a result of the September floods. A federal disaster declaration for public assistance would deliver funding to assist cities, towns and counties with infrastructure repairs and costs associated with their flood re-sponse.

Grant County Commis-sioner Cindy Bobbitt said she was disappointed with the president’s decision to deny aid for individuals and businesses.

“I’m heartbroken he doesn’t see the need to help these individuals,” Bobbitt said.

She said the lack of aid may prevent some county residents from rebuilding.

“It means some of our citizens will be displaced,” Bobbitt said, noting some of the homes damaged might not be reparable.

She said the decision could force some Grant County residents to seek state assistance and social services.

“Some of those individuals may have to go onto welfare,” she said.

“The good news is Grant County is small in population, but they are big in heart,” the commissioner said. “We’ll have fundraisers. We’ll do what we can to help them get back to where they were.”

Bobbitt said two weeks ago FEMA officials estimated the damages in her county at $5.1 million. If public assistance is not granted, the situation could be dire for the rural county.

“It’s going to take years and years to get to where we were,” she said.

Bobbitt said this was her sixth federal disaster to oversee since she became a commisioner, and the recent floods “were the worst by far.”

Alfalfa County Commis-sioner Chairman Doug Mur-row said the lack of aid will affect those whose homes were flooded in September.

“It’s going to hurt them quite a bit,” he said. “All they can do now is pull together and do the best we can.”

Murrow said FEMA and Oklahoma Emergency Man-agement officials estimated damages from the flooding in Alfalfa County at about $1.8 million, which does not included damages incurred by individuals and businesses.

“I’m hopeful we get some public assistance, but it’s too bad they denied the individual assistance,” he said. “I think we can definitely overcome.”