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Officials: Arlington’s FEMA reimbursement could take a year
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Recovery from the flood on Arlington Terrace has been slow because of insurance companies’ slowness in settling claims.
Arlington County (Map, News) - Arlington County officials said it could take the Federal Emergency Management Agency up to one year to reimburse the cost of repairs to county infrastructure caused by damage from June floods.
The county has estimated the cost of repairs at $7 million. County parks and the sewer system were hit especially hard.
Only the county can apply for federal relief, as FEMA denied relief to private homeowners.
To date, the county has submitted more than $2 million to FEMA for reimbursement. There is no guarantee the county will get the money back.
“The public assistance program does take a while” to process local requests for federal funds, FEMA spokesman Ross Fredenburgh said. “Certainly in a flood as small as what happened up there [in Arlington], we try to get through it in a year.”
Fredenburgh said the county first submits its reimbursement request to the Virginia Emergency Management, which then submits to the request to the federal government.
“The wheels of reimbursement turn slowly,” said Bob Griffin, director of emergency management for Arlington County. “People need to remember ... that there are procedural safeguards worked into the process that some people say are slowing it down. It’s actually providing checks and balances to ensure it’s legal.
“You can’t paint things as all negative,” he said.
Griffin said the county has begun work despite not being assured of reimbursement.
“We have moved forward on repairs to our critical facilities,” he said. “Even if FEMA doesn’t reimburse, the repairs needs to be done.”
dfrancis@dcexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
4:08 PM MST on Mon., Jul. 7, 2008 re: "High temperatures expected to last throughout the week"
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12:35 PM MST on Fri., Jun. 13, 2008
re: "Storm leaves thousands without power, closes several schools in Baltimore area"
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7:37 PM MST on Fri., Feb. 1, 2008
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9:51 AM MST on Fri., Jan. 4, 2008
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MrHyphy said:
Time to chill on the block with a tank top yadadafeel me?
7 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Was the tree in the picture cut down? There is no breakage on the tree and looks like it was taken down by a chain saw.
8 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Let's not forget those of us that were stranded because MTA doesn't have a proper back up plan for light rail interuptions. Dozens of people waited for their chance to crowd onto a shuttle bus, maybe 3 showed up in the hour i waited. When lodging a complaint, the MTA rep. said they do not plan for these things. REALLY? you should always plan for how to get around an interuption in the line. But then again, its the MTA! BTW, what the hell does O'Malley ahve to do with the weather? Everyone seems to be all up in arms about relating him to the storm damage. It's an act of nature, or as some might say, an act of GOD lol. if so, GOD does not seem to be happy with those that are close minded lately.
12 agree | 10 disagree
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Steven Lessner said:
O'malley,busch,and miller would all be typical weatherman where they could lie to the public.Between the state liars and shelia dixon and her corrupt adminstration it's a race to see who can steal more tax dollars. Dixon's adminstration does a pretty good job of stealing since most of her people are black.Instead of giving a tax break she wants to give raises to her people while other people in the private sector are losing their jobs let's give raises and screw the people in the city. Dixon doesn't care about the city of baltimore, one of the most violent in the country.Just as O'Malley could care less about Maryland,this is not the "FREE STATE" anymore it's should be renamed the expensive state that has the most laws in the nation.
11 agree | 12 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
O'Malley would make a better weather man than he is a politician. He could lie about the weather and blame it on Bob Ehrlich and global warming.
11 agree | 11 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Had it not been for global warming there would be 40 inches of snow laying on the ground right now with many people losing thier lives!
9 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Was the issue with VDOT and /or the lack of the national /local reporting
149 agree | 171 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Virginia definitely doesn't know how to handle this type of weather, let alone do Virginia drivers know how to drive. Being from Indiana, it cracks me up to see places of business closing down because the weather report says there's a chance of snow. People need to slow down and remember what driver's ed taught them, it'll save lives.
157 agree | 162 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Cabin fever!!!
158 agree | 131 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The problem is that Virginia does not know how to handle winter weather. It's not just highways. "It was a perfect storm at a perfect time..."? Gimme a break. Just own up to not having enough DOT trucks, and to not having an efficient plan when snow/ice falls. There certainly are plenty of other states that deal with snow/ice every year, yet they don't seem to have these issues. It's amazing really.
163 agree | 157 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
ok
179 agree | 186 disagree
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Tinker said:
Just think how much colder it would be if "AL" had not invented global warming!
199 agree | 173 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Actually, there was also a 7:05 ferry from Oakland to SF that I was on - what a wild ride!
227 agree | 210 disagree
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