O'Bannon seeks federal aid for 33 counties

INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Frank O'Bannon is seeking federal disaster aid for 33 Indiana counties where spring floods damaged or destroyed about 140 homes and caused about $6 million in damage to roads and bridges.\nWednesday's request for federal disaster declarations for the central and southern Indiana counties came after the state's wettest spring on record caused widespread flooding.\nThe flooded counties sustained damages of about $7.7 million, including the price of removing flood debris and emergency response.\nUnder the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster aid formula, Indiana's total bill for disaster-related damages must reach as least $6.1 million to qualify for federal disaster declarations.\n"We believe we've met their criteria for assistance," said Alden Taylor, a spokesman for the State Emergency Management Agency.\nHeavy rains that began April 28 and continued throughout May and into June destroyed or caused major structural damage to about 140 homes in eight counties, chiefly in Gibson, Marion, Posey and Vigo counties.\nThe governor's request for disaster aid could open the door to low-interest loans and other aid to homeowners in those counties and four others hard-hit by the flooding.\nO'Bannon is also seeking federal aid for county governments in all but one of those counties, along with two dozen others, to pay for damaged bridges and roads and other costs such as worker overtime.\nOne county vying for both types of assistance is west-central Indiana's Vigo County, where Wabash River tributaries overflowed, causing about $350,000 in damage to bridges and roads.\nThat includes washed-out approaches to two 35- to 40-foot bridges and a mudslide that undercut about a quarter-mile of a county road, said Dan Bennett, assistant superintendent of the county's highway department.\nHe said the total cost of the flooding to the county will only grow as additional costs such as work overtime are tallied.\n"That's what I'm doing right now, figuring up that overtime," Bennett said Wednesday. "The guys turn in their hours in hand tickets and we're trying to get the darn thing figured out."\nVigo County Commissioner Judith Anderson said federal aid is badly needed because the $350,000 damage estimate is a big hit for the highway department's $1.9 million annual budget. She said that in her district alone, four roads remain closed.\n"Two of them we just have no idea when they'll open because we don't have the money to fix them. It's just more than we can handle," she said.\nO'Bannon's aid request will be reviewed by FEMA, which will then make a recommendation to the White House, where the final decision rests.