County Receives FEMA Denials - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

County Receives FEMA Denials

Ward County's appeals to the Federal Emergency Management Agency are being denied at a high rate.

That's what County Engineer Dana Larsen told county commissioners today.

Larsen says appeals to FEMA that were submitted last summer are just now being denied by the federal agency.

He says about five million dollars in about a dozen road projects to repair damage from the 2011 flood will not be paid by FEMA.

Larsen told commissioners the denials seemed to have little to do with FEMA's actual guidelines.

(Dana Larsen, Ward Co. Engineer) "In short, too big an investment for the number of people it helps. That is paraphrasing, they had a lot of other details, but essentially said very little traffic, very few homes, a lot of money, it's not a good use of money. And that's the reason for the denials, not based off their policies."

Commissioners wondered if the millions of dollars needed for repairs to flooded roads might come from a possible new infusion of Community Development Block Grant funds.

But Larsen said there's no guarantee the region will get more CDBG money.

(Dana Larsen, Ward Co. Engineer) "These roads have been closed since 2011. We have to start moving forward one way or the other. So to wait for CDBG funds I don't think...unless they could be here in the next three months...I don't think we can wait."

Larsen is hoping to work with state legislators to find state funds to help pay for the five million dollars in needed repairs.