The Woodward News

Local News

April 23, 2009

Storm damage totals extensive

Homes, businesses and government entities suffered about $10 million in damages in Woodward County during the March 29 storm that dropped 18 to 22 inches of snow in Northwestern Oklahoma.

County and City Emergency Management Director Matt Lehenbauer, said the figure was determined during the past three weeks after the storm by himself and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials who were in the area the last few days conducting estimates.

Lehenbauer said because a minimum of $4.5 million of estimated damage was needed statewide for government property, Gov. Brad Henry can now get a presidential disaster declaration that will enable FEMA officials to return and determine the amount of reimbursement dollars to the Woodward County area.

“With our $2.2 million in government property damage, that got (the state) over $4.5 million, so the governor can request a presidential declaration,” Lehenbauer said.

Once the president declares the disaster, FEMA will come back, and we can get assistance to businesses and homeowners, he said.

“We could get up to 75 percent of cost reimbursement for communities and school systems and the county government,” he said.

“The damage was pretty bad,” Lehenbauer said of those entities.

All of the county roads have to be graded, he said, and the gym in Fort Supply has an estimated $1.6 million in repairs to make.

The city of Woodward suffered about $30,000 in expenses for clearing off streets and roadways, he said, and he noted that Mooreland suffered about $65,000 in damages.

Much of the damage was caused by the weight of the snow on roof tops, which collapsed under the pressure. Damage to county roads was caused by trucks that had to pass through while the roads were still soft. And power lines had to be restored.

Lehenbauer said he has been busy this past week working with FEMA officials to estimate damage to government entities.

“After the president declares the disaster, then we will qualify for government money,” Lehenbauer said. “FEMA will come back and dig into our files and look for photos and expense records. That could take another 30 days.

“The process is grueling with enormous amounts of paperwork,” he said.

With the drought and the snow storm, Lehenbauer said Oklahoma is on its way to setting another record for presidential declarations.

In 2008, Oklahoma set the record for presidential declarations.

“We are on our way to beat that this year,” he said.

As for getting dollars to everyone who suffered from the snow storm, he said, “We’re doing as much as we can as quickly as we can. The federal FEMA employees are good at what they do. But for expenses to be met, we’ll have to provide receipts and logs of paperwork for man hours put into grading roads and other expenses.”

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