County takes steps for disaster relief

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HURON – Beadle County commissioners took the first step in seeking to secure federal disaster relief funds Tuesday by adopting a resolution declaring an emergency due to “severe damage caused by flooding from rapid thawing mixed with heavy rains.”
Gov. Kristi Noem declared South Dakota a disaster state as of March 13, and the resolution states that since that time going forward the county has sustained damage, including washed-out gravel roads and culverts.
Emergency Management Director Taylor Jans, who met with commissioners during a brief late afternoon meeting, said the resolution will be forwarded to the state Office of Emergency Management, which will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on behalf of all of the South Dakota counties impacted by flooding.
“It’s the start of getting Beadle County as a disaster county when we do apply for FEMA money,” he said. “It’s just one of the steps to getting FEMA money.”
Jans has sent letters to supervisors in all 35 townships asking them to submit damage estimates. They have been asked to indicate each site with damage and describe what happened.
“Beadle County as a whole has to come up with just under $67,000 in damages in order to receive FEMA money,” Jans said.

That figure is based on about $3.80 per county resident multiplied by the county population of about 17,000.
In reaching that nearly $67,000 damage threshold, the county is eligible for federal dollars. However, the number is likely to go higher as the water recedes and there’s a clearer understanding of all of the damage. The James River is forecast to crest at 17.3 feet today. Flood stage is 11 feet, and the record is 21.3 feet.
FEMA may reimburse the county up to 100 percent of the damage incurred, but at this point that is unknown. With the majority of spring flooding causing damage to infrastructure and homes, farms and businesses in neighboring Nebraska, that state will likely be a priority for federal funding for the time being.
Jans said while roads and culverts sustained damage in Beadle County, the county’s bridges appear to have weathered the elements.
By South Dakota law, however, a bridge is defined as a structure at least 20 feet in length.
“Now we’ve got some places where it looks like a bridge, but it’s less than 20 feet so the state does not consider that a bridge, that is a culvert, even though it’s a bridge looking at it,” he said. “But the length of it is less than 20 feet.”