(To Editor: Photos of disaster response and recovery:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
In the month since heavy rains brought flooding, landslides and mudslides, Colorado survivors, armed
with more than $60.7 million in state and federal
assistance and low-interest loans, are cleaning up, rebuilding and
planning for the future. Of this amount, more than
$41.3 million in Individual Assistance (IA) helps Coloradans make
repairs to primary homes and cover other disaster-related expenses such
as medical or personal property loss. Other survivors have benefitted
from disaster unemployment assistance, legal
aid and temporary sheltering in hotels and motels.
More than
190 inspectors in the field have looked at nearly 21,000 properties in the nine designated counties.
In addition, the State of Colorado has made
$91.5 million available in the Disaster Emergency Fund to the 24
counties with state emergency declarations. A State Recovery Office has
been created to help lead the state’s recovery efforts in partnership
with the Colorado Office of Emergency Management
and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Counties
with FEMA IA designations are Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Clear Creek, El
Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, Logan and Weld. Counties with FEMA
Public Assistance (PA) designations are Adams, Boulder, Clear Creek, El
Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, Logan, Morgan, Washington and Weld.
Counties
with state emergency declarations are Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder,
Broomfield, Chaffee, Clear Creek, Crowley, Denver, El Paso, Fremont,
Gilpin, Jefferson, Lake, Larimer, Lincoln, Logan,
Morgan, Otero, Park, Pueblo, Prowers, Sedgwick, Washington and Weld.
At
this time, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of
Disaster Assistance, a partner in the recovery effort, has approved
488 disaster loans totaling nearly $19.4 million for
residents and businesses in disaster-designated counties in Colorado. To
date, Boulder County residents and businesses have been approved for
more than
$13 million in disaster loans; Larimer has been approved for $2.1 million
and Weld County for $2.7 million.
The FEMA-administered National Flood Insurance Program has paid claims totaling $6.3 million on
588 claims.
More than
270 FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance (DSA) specialists have
canvassed hard-hit Colorado neighborhoods helping survivors connect with
recovery services. More than
10,500 survivors have talked to local, state, nonprofit, nongovernmental and FEMA specialists at the
15 Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs) in designated counties.
To ensure that Coloradans receive information about assistance, FEMA provides information in Spanish and many other languages.
FEMA
continues to work with state and local governments to reach survivors
in inaccessible communities. DSA specialists are traveling to these
communities by all-terrain vehicles,
on foot and other means to help survivors in these areas register for
assistance.
Six
states are supporting flood recovery efforts through the Emergency
Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). These states include North
Dakota, Pennsylvania, California, Florida,
Alabama and Montana. Additional assistance from National Guard units
from Iowa, Utah and Wyoming have or are providing assistance in
Colorado.
More than
7,700 Coloradans have met with mitigation specialists
at DRCs and at local hardware stores to learn ways to rebuild
structures so they are more resilient to future storm damage.
Social Media
FEMA and state specialists also use digital communications outreach to provide information to flood survivors. Through the FEMA
Region 8 Twitter account, more than 300 tweets (or an average of
10 per day) provided response and recovery information in the first 30
days of the incident period. In the month since the Colorado flooding
began, nearly 400 new participants have started
following FEMA Region 8.
The Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management’s (DHSEM) Twitter account COEmergency has more than 20,600 followers and offers disaster recovery information, links to news products and other information disaster survivors may find useful.
By clicking the “like” button on the
COEmergency Facebook page, Coloradans can offer detailed posts with useful information and photos.
A message on Facebook could potentially be seen by any of FEMA’s nearly 150,000 followers. The Colorado disaster webpage, fema.gov/disaster/4145, has had nearly 80,000 page views since the declaration: The average daily number of page views for the first 30 days after the disaster was 2,600, including the peak day for traffic on Sept. 16 with 15,040 views.
Volunteer Efforts
More than
50 national, state and local voluntary and faith-based
organizations have spent thousands of hours helping people as they
recover from the flooding. The volunteers are providing donations,
volunteer management, home repair, child care, pet care, counseling
services and removal of muck and mold from homes.
Public Assistance
After
a devastating storm, one of the priorities is to clean up debris so
neighborhoods can begin rebuilding. PA Debris Teams were
working with the state in the first week after the disaster
declaration, helping communities understand what to do with debris once
the water receded. In addition to helping with debris removal, PA is
working with its state and federal partners, assessing
the state’s many flood-damaged roads and bridges.
PA funding provides a 75 percent federal reimbursement for eligible, disaster-related debris removal, emergency measures and permanent work to repair and replace disaster-damaged public facilities and roads and bridges.
Response
As
flood waters rose, agencies began working together to rescue people who
were cut off by flood waters or damaged roads. The State Emergency
Operations Center was activated on Sept. 12 to
provide support and technical assistance to local communities.
The
Colorado National Guard, supported by the Wyoming National Guard and
additional aviation assets from the Army, evacuated more than 3,700
people and more than 1,000 pets in flooded Colorado
communities. The troops not only moved survivors from areas cut off by
flood waters but protected property. They also constructed access trails
around impassible sites.
The
Department of Defense supported rescue efforts by supplying 21
helicopters to search and rescue operations staffed by the Colorado
National Guard, 4th Infantry Division, from Fort Carson,
and the Wyoming National Guard. Hundreds of survivors were airlifted to
safety. Buckley Air Force Base also opened its gates as a staging area
for FEMA commodities.
In
addition to the flight operations, the Urban Search and Rescue teams
walked door to door, checking on thousands of residences in flood zones
to assure that those in the flooded areas who
wanted to be evacuated were given the opportunity to evacuate.
Other
partner agencies used their technology to measure flood data to help
assure the safety of rescue efforts. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
dispatched flood response crews to measure and
report flood flow data needed by federal, state and local agencies to
forecast the magnitude and timing of incoming flood waters and to
coordinate flood-response activities such as closing dams and
identifying evacuation zones. After the flood, the USGS
flagged high-water marks in hazardous locations and assessed safety
concerns in areas where landslides occurred.
In
addition to the immediate rescue efforts, FEMA’s partners worked to
maintain the safety of resources for Coloradans. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, under a mission assignment from FEMA
Public Assistance, worked on water systems in the flooded areas to
ensure Coloradans had safe drinking water and assured the integrity of
the wastewater system in Colorado. This was part of 27 infrastructure
assessments of public water and wastewater systems.
Thousands
of photos taken by the Colorado Civil Air Patrol (CAP) helped FEMA and
other agencies determine the flood’s impact and assess where the need
existed for damage control and assistance.
The CAP, an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, produced photos that were
uploaded directly to FEMA’s website,
fema.maps.arcgis.com/home/.
CAP also carried VIPs and media representatives to the flooded areas.
Federal Disaster Recovery Coordination
In
preparation for the long road of recovery for Colorado communities, the
Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator and the State Disaster Recovery
Coordinator for Colorado are working
with public and private partners at the federal, state and local levels
to identify unmet needs as well as traditional and innovative resources
that can be used to support rebuilding. The National Disaster Recovery
Support Cadre will be assisting counties
as they determine the tools needed to address the long-term issues and
challenges in the communities.
County-By-County Breakdown of State and Federal Grants
Adams County Housing Assistance: $787,070
Arapahoe County Housing Assistance: $2,297,300
Boulder County Housing Assistance: $23,310,832
Clear Creek County Housing Assistance: $102,061
El Paso County Housing Assistance: $831,219
Jefferson County Housing Assistance: $1,038,002
Larimer County Housing Assistance: $3,064,994
Logan County
Housing Assistance: $412,322
Weld County Housing Assistance: $6,775,043
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FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build,
sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
Follow FEMA online at
fema.gov/blog,
twitter.com/fema,
facebook.com/fema, and
youtube.com/fema.
Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate's activities at twitter.com/craigatfema.
The social media links are provided for reference only. FEMA does not
endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.
Colorado
Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management supports the
needs of local government and partners with them before, during and
after a disaster and to enhance preparedness
statewide by devoting available resources toward prevention,
protection, mitigation, response and recovery, which will ensure greater
resiliency of our communities.
For more information: coemergency.com
and
CORecovers.info.
The U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA) is the federal government’s primary source of money
for the long-term rebuilding of disaster-damaged private property. SBA
helps homeowners, renters, businesses of
all sizes, and private, nonprofit organizations fund repairs or
rebuilding efforts, and cover the cost of replacing lost or
disaster-damaged personal property. These disaster loans cover losses
not fully compensated by insurance or other recoveries and do
not duplicate benefits of other agencies or organizations. For
information about SBA programs, applicants can go to
sba.govb/disaster or call (800) 659-2955(TTY 1-800-977-8339).
