News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Federal help may be on the way for those affected by the Memorial Day storms.
Putnam County Executive Randy Porter said the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency feels there might be enough damage to declare the counties affected a disaster area and petition the federal government for help.
“There’s criteria that have to be met on the state level, about $9.5 million damage statewide, and each county has to meet criteria based on population. Putnam County’s is $280,000 based on population, I think our utility companies are going to have more than that just them, not counting the county overtime and things,” Porter said.
TEMA will meet with county officials this week to make that determination.
“We’ve got a meeting Thursday morning with TEMA, to start looking at that. They feel good and we do too that we’ll get declared, if we do it’ll be huge for our county and any other counties affected cause that means FEMA will come in and we’ll have a good chance of getting our expenses reimbursed,” Porter said.
Even if TEMA makes the request, it would still have to be confirmed by federal officials before FEMA could come to help. The storms Memorial Day weekend caused damage in Putnam, White and Cumberland counties. It also knocked out power to a fair portion of Upper Cumberland counties.
