Gov. Terry McAuliffe was informed Friday that the state’s request for federal assistance was denied.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said the damage from the tornadoes “was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the commonwealth, affected local governments, and voluntary agencies,” according to a news release from the state.
The state plans to appeal the decision.
For Essex County, it means thousands of dollars spent on cleaning up the damage won’t be reimbursed, Essex Board of Supervisors Chairman Stanley Langford said.
“We’re very disappointed,” Langford said.
He estimated that between $750,000 and $1 million in county money was spent on cleaning up the damage.
“That was money from the taxpayers that didn’t go back into the schools, or fire and rescue,” Langford said.
According to the state’s application to FEMA, 70 Essex homes were impacted by the storm. Twenty-nine percent of those homes are uninsured and those homes are now relying on a private and voluntary sector that is already responding to many communities statewide, the application stated.
Langford said the county hired a company from North Carolina to help clean up the debris.
To Langford, it seems FEMA’s system is broken.
He explained that Essex met the federal threshold, but the request was denied because the state overall didn’t meet the threshold.
“When you have that kind of damage in a smaller community, it has a bigger impact,” Langford said.
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