29 July 2005

Governor requests Presidential Disaster Declaration for three Kansas counties affected by severe weather
Total estimated eligible damage has reached nearly $4.7 million

Upon receiving a final damage report, Governor Kathleen Sebelius signed a letter to the White House today, requesting federal assistance to help Kansans recover from the effects of the severe weather that hit the state June 30 through July 1, 2005.

These severe storms were accompanied by flooding, flash flooding, tornadoes, high winds, hail and lightning. The storms left approximately 9,000 people without power, including police departments, fire departments and hospitals, for 72 hours. Portable generators, emergency generators and outside utility crews were dispatched to the affected area for emergency restoration of power.

Ten state agencies helped with response and recovery, as well as two volunteer agencies. Mutual aid agreements between local rural electric cooperatives were activated in the affected areas.

“On July 15, I requested a joint Federal, State and local survey of the damaged areas,” said Sebelius. “Preliminary assessments indicated the most severe impacts were to infrastructure, including power lines, transformers, utility poles and debris removal.”

The Governor’s request seeks public assistance for three of the 10 Kansas counties that were named in a State of Disaster Emergency she declared. The counties named in the presidential request are Cherokee, Crawford and Neosho. These counties qualified to be included in the Governor’s request on Friday, July 29.

The total estimated eligible damage in these three counties has reached nearly $4.7 million.

“Of particular note was the damage to the small city of St. Paul in Neosho County,” said Governor Sebelius. There was extensive damage and the Kansas National Guard removed quite a bit of debris. In addition, the city was without power for several days.

Governor Sebelius asked for the Public Assistance program to restore damaged infrastructure under Section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Public Law 288, as amended, and implemented by 44 CFR Part 206.36(d). These damages include such things as power lines and poles and extensive debris. Power has been restored to all affected areas, although many of the repairs are temporary measures.