FEMA starts recovery work on Hi-Line

Representatives of three counties, two Indian reservations and an electric cooperative met Thursday with state and federal officials to start federal help for the recovery from this spring’s flooding, with the officials saying their goal is to help the local governments get help as quickly as they can.

“I like to say we’re like the circus,” Federal Emergency Management Agency Disaster Federal Coordinating Officer Tom McCool said during the briefing. “We come in, we perform, and we leave town. Because the quicker we get done with our job, the quicker you get your money.

“Not that we will do sloppy work,” he added. “We will do thorough work, but this is where the rubber meets the road.”

Representatives of Blaine, Hill and Chouteau counties, the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy’s Indian reservations, the Northern Agricultural Research Center and Hill County Electric Cooperative met with officials including from the state Disaster and Emergency Services, Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Department of Natural Resources and Conservation as well as from FEMA at the NARC facility at Fort Assinniboine south of Havre.

The officials met together in an applicants briefing, with kickoff meetings for each jurisdiction planned to follow. More meetings are scheduled next week in Glasgow, Lewistown and Miles City.

The topic is starting the actual assessment and assigning projects, to recover from the flood event centered in the Bear Paw Mountains and in southeastern Montana from May 19 through June 3. June 10, President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration for 12 counties and three Indian reservations due to the flooding.

McCool said the heaviest damage was centered here on the Hi-Line.

Once the local governments and then Gov. Steve Bullock declared disasters, state and FEMA teams in June made a preliminary assessment of damage.

“Those preliminary damage assessments add up to about $3.1 million, divided over 12 counties and three tribes,” McCool said. “Now, if you’re from Hill County or Rocky Boy’s, one-third, well over one-third of that 3.1 million is in your area, between Rocky Boy’s and Hill County. A significant amount of damage we think went on, and you know went on, in your area.”

The preliminary estimate, listed in Gov. Steve Bullock’s request for a presidential disaster declaration, included $773,000 at Rocky Boy, which is in both Chouteau and Hill counties, and $545,677 for Hill County. If Blaine County and Fort Belknap are included, the total comes close to two-thirds of the total damage estimate, with $358,092 in Blaine County and $246,705 for Fort Belknap.

Chouteau County’s estimate is the second-lowest in damages of the 15 entities approved, with the preliminary damage estimate at $22,185. No representatives of Chouteau County were at the applicant briefing Thursday.

McCool said part of the process in determining whether to declare a disaster includes looking at previous disasters. Rocky Boy and Hill County were declared flood disaster areas in 2010, and again in 2011 along with a wide region of the state including Blaine County and Fort Belknap. He noted that the governments still are finishing repairs from damage in those disasters.

McCool, Montana Disaster and Emergency Services Response and Recovery Bureau Chief Tim Thennis and DES Mitigation Officer Kent Atwood each said a goal of the disaster officials is to help the local governments navigate the process to receive aid.

“It will sound bureaucratic, and it is,” McCool said. “To get money is bureaucratic.”

And, they said, finding projects to prevent future damage also is a major goal. Mitigation funds are included for actual disaster damage, and another 15 percent of the disaster cost is given to the governor to pay for mitigation projects in general. Those dollars can go to any government in the state with an approved pre-disaster mitigation plan in place.

“I’m a big believer in for every dollar you spend in mitigation, you do get four back,” McCool said.“

Atwood said mitigating future damage — from elevating or moving houses that are on flood plains to putting stream gauges in the Milk River to putting air flow spoilers on power poles — has benefit after benefit after benefit.

“Can we ever stop the hazard? No,” Atwood said. “No matter what we do, it’s going to continue to flood. It’s going to continue to tornado. It’s going to continue to burn. But we can reduce the risk.”