County should not expect state or federal disaster aid
Gilmer County should plan to handle future severe weather events without outside assistance.
This was the message Gilmer County Emergency Management Agency Director Aaron Freeman gave commissioners about changes at the Federal Emergency Management Agency during their work session July 16.
“If a disaster hit right now in Gilmer County, we don’t know what FEMA is going to do,” Freeman said.
A formula which determines per capita impact and project thresholds may be changing.
“I’m bringing this to you because in the event they raise this per capita there is a good chance that a lot of our funding from FEMA disappears,” he said. “A lot of grants we will look at disappearing.”
Over the last 10 years, Gilmer County has had four declarations of disaster in which FEMA aided the county. Freeman said the new criteria being discussed would quadruple the per capita level used to determine aid and have cut the number eligible to one.
Some of the things suggested by Freeman are the county stockpiling gravel and other materials which will be used to restore roads and culverts.
“Looking at FEMA getting here for us is pretty slim right now,” Freeman said. “We need to devise a plan or discuss a plan going forward over the next few years to look at some things to help mitigate and get us back on our feet fairly rapidly in the event something happens.”
Most of the damage Gilmer County has suffered in the past four events involved roadways and culverts being washed out.
He said the discussion from FEMA is about relying heavily on insurance companies to foot the bill.
“I believe that we need to have relevant department heads get together and put together that plan for the board to look at,” said Gilmer County Chair Charlie Paris.
At the monthly department head meetings, Paris said he would allocate an extra hour to come up with a plan.
“It’s a major issue that is going to get worse,” Freeman said.
Post Commissioner Karleen Ferguson asked about state plans for disasters.
Freeman said the state has $800 million set aside annually for recovery, but he said a lot of those funds will go toward agriculture recovery.
“I think the point of this plan would be to come up with some sort of self-sufficiency with the assumption that the feds and the state aren’t going to do anything,” Paris said.