Lawmaker losing patience over lack of disaster declaration

State Rep. Rachel Bringer, D-Palmyra, has been around Jefferson City long enough to know that more often than not the bureaucratic wheels turn slowly. But even Bringer is losing patience over the time it’s taking to have a disaster declaration made in behalf of people forced out of their homes by the rising waters of the Salt River.
“I’m just still very disappointed at how slowly this is moving,” she said late Wednesday afternoon. “We just have a lot of folks that are in real need and they’re just not eligible for assistance because the state will not get it declared. I make the same calls every day asking them to move it along, to please hurry and here we are at Wednesday and we still don’t have a request signed by our state yet for a disaster.”
Further fueling Bringer’s annoyance is the fact that a state disaster declaration was closed July 18.
“This is the same flood. We’re talking about the same water that came around in June that filled up the lake,” she said. “I appreciate the Corps is cooperating. They’re trying to get that information to SEMA and FEMA to explain that it’s not a new flood. I just wish that SEMA would really get going a little more quickly on it.”
Bringer has been told that a new declaration might be necessary, which would require a new preliminary damage assessment.
“I think that’s the wrong way to rectify this mistake. The mistake was closing it on July 18,” she said. “My thought would be we just need to reopen that original declaration. We know there was enough damage for that original declaration.
“My initial thought is let’s fix the mistake as quickly as possible, but if they’re wanting to do a new disaster declaration, then let’s get going on it. They should have done it Monday. Now it’s Wednesday and tomorrow’s Thursday. These folks have been out of their home now, some of them, since the weekend.”
Typically, SEMA and FEMA partner together on disaster issues. However, Bringer has detected friction between the two agencies.
“Since Monday there’s been a certain amount of finger pointing between the two agencies. SEMA said it was entirely FEMA’s fault, that the mistake was made in closing the disaster declaration. FEMA blamed SEMA and said they would not have closed it if SEMA had not asked them to do that,” she said. “Whoever is blocking this declaration, they really need to start working together more quickly to get it resolved.
“I’m still hopeful it (disaster declaration) will be tomorrow (Thursday) because the folks have been in need since the weekend. Our area is in need. The county is in need.”