KING COUNTY, Wash. — Exactly five months and one day after the disaster declaration ended for December’s record-breaking flooding, state and federal leaders are warning there are just three weeks left for victims to apply to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as the deadline is the end of the business day on Wednesday, June 10th.
People can apply for three kinds of relief:
- Individual Disaster Assistance for individuals or families to cover some or all costs related to flooding
- Disaster Unemployment Assistance for lost wages or revenue because of flooding
- Low-Interest Loans from the Small Business Association
People can apply online at disasterassistance.org,by calling 1-800-621-3362, by downloading the FEMA app, or going to one of the disaster recovery centers. Many types of assistance are available for people who don’t have insurance, are underinsured, or whose insurance doesn’t cover their damage.
Don Kramer, co-owner of Briscott Farms, didn’t have flood insurance because his farm is outside of the flood plain. It’s the time of year he and his wife are typically hosting weddings, school buses full of kids, and families at their petting zoo.
That lost revenue is adding to the cost of repairs and cleanups he’s had since December, estimating it’s tens of thousands, potentially over $100,000 in damage.
“We’ve gotten a lot of donations from people, which has been great, and from just my own pocket. We refinanced the farm, we didn’t want to but had to, and here we are.” Kramer said.
Their shed to store hay flooded and is damaged, increasing the animal feed cost by at least a thousand dollars, plus the cost to repair the building. Trips to the county dump have cost him more than $2,000.
Two lawn mowers were lost, a tractor broken, several bounce houses destroyed, and now they’re figuring out a way to raise their house and redo the foundation to protect it from future flooding.
He says he and his wife do plan to apply for disaster assistance before the deadline.
“We’ll definitely give it a shot. I’m not counting on a whole lot from the government.” Kramer said, “It’s so hard to calculate. Half the stuff I lost, I bought 10, 20 years ago, or is a family heirloom.”
FEMA coordinator John Harrison says people should provide as much evidence or detail of the damage they can in their disaster application.
“Any photos or documents you had from right after the flood, because the inspector might come back in and you’ve already cleaned up or repaired it,” Harrison said, “We see a lot of that within days of the event, so those early photos, have those ready to go because that’ll help justify what the damage level was in December.”
The State of Washington applied for two grants and was approved for one—the FEMA public assistance grant that will cover up to 75 percent of the cost of the state’s repairs. So far, that’s tallied at $182 million according to Governor Bob Ferguson.
“There’s a lot of work going on to assess that damage, so I just really want to underscore that,” Ferguson said, “It still could be a couple of years based on the time it takes to complete each repair.”
Washington State was denied, but is appealing for Federal Hazard Mitigation funding to conduct preventative work on flooding. Two levees were overtaken by water in December’s flooding.
Both the Pacific Levee and Desimone Levee had projects planned to KIRO 7 asked if that money from the federal government could have sped up that work. Governor Ferguson says he’s working to provide state money as part of his December Budget.
Joel Armstead, the State Coordinating Officer with the Washington State Emergency Management Department, said the state is creating a Special Levee Task Force to look at the issue.
“We did this similarly after the [20]21 floods that affected similar areas to the address and funded the proper repairs and maintenance of those levees. So, there is ongoing work there, and this will partially be covered under the public assistance program.” Armstead said.