OHIO EMA SAYS NO TO LORAIN COUNTY

Local County officials were advised today by the Ohio Emergency Management Agency that the county did not meet the criteria set forth by the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the Small Business Administration and will not receive any disaster assistance.

Only Auglaize and Marion Counties have been identified by the state office as eligible for Small Business Administration loan assistance. Despite the widespread flooding across the state, no Ohio County met the requirements for direct FEMA assistance.

“The criteria is very strict”, said Tom Kelley, Director of the Lorain County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. “We were just not able to come up with the requirement amount of structures with major damage or that were destroyed”. Despite the hundreds of homes across the county that incurred sewer backup, that type of flooding cannot be considered for the flood damage assessment criteria.

Over 100 homeowners either called into the agency or were visited by county damage assessment teams, emergency management personnel, and a field representative from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency. The damage survey was submitted to the State of Ohio on March 2, 2011.