FEMA meets with county officials to assess flood damage
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Federal Emergency Management Agency and Illinois Emergency Management Agency met with public agencies of Saline County Tuesday morning to gather preliminary figures to submit for a federal disaster declaration.
The declaration means federal money could be made available to offset flood-related expenses.
FEMA worker Jim Simoncelli went down a list and asked for cost estimates of repairs to structures and other expenditures such as overtime paid.
Saline County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Allen Ninness said a couple of the first major damage reports came during the storm March 19 with high winds.
Eldorado Memorial Library was one of the victims.
"A very large tree shattered some of the structure in the attic. They are trying to figure what the cost is going to be," Ninness said.
He said the library is working to figure out if insurance can cover the cost.
The storm also damaged the Saline County 911 system by knocking out three of the county's antennas. At least one of those was on top of the Clearwave Building and another was a repeater tower at the north end of the county.
Saline County 911 Director Tracy Felty said insurance will cover $3,000 of the estimated $30,000 replacement.
Simoncelli then turned to the township road superintendents. Only one, Ray Murphy of Stonefort Township, was at the meeting.
Murphy said there were probably six or seven damaged roads in the township, among them Bill Hill Hollow Road, Grassy Hill Road and Tom Dick Hill Road. Murphy said the township -- with the only equipment being a Bush Hog, pickup truck and chainsaw -- contracts road repair work.
On the estimate of repair costs Murphy deferred to Saline County Highway Superintendent Jeff Jones who said the cost would be in the neighborhood of $20,000.
Harrisburg Township Road Superintendent Bob Smith had provided damage costs in his township to Jones prior to the meeting. Jones said the cost is about $35,000 for cleaning out the siltation of ditches, replacing washed off gravel and replacing some riprap. Jones estimated there are five sites of concern.
As far as the highways maintained by the Saline County Highway Department Jones estimated there is $50,000 worth of repair. The repairs include a large pipe washed out and replaced at $10,000, a couple of road surfaces washed out and the overtime expenses of maintaining high water signs and removal of debris.
Sheriff Keith Brown and Felty explained the sheriff's department flood response. Deputies responded to calls for people driving into high water, there were two minor train derailments involving sections of track damaged in the Stonefort area that only required the railroad company repairing them and moving the trains out in a matter of hours and there were daily patrols to check high water areas.
Area coal mines were adversely affected by the flood. Semi tractor-trailers from American Coal Company in Galatia could not travel on state Route 34 which was shut down by the installation of the Harrisburg flood gate and its load out in Shetlerville on the Ohio River in Pope County was flooded. The Shetlerville load out was out of commission for three-and-a-half weeks and Cottage Grove Mine east of Harrisburg had its strip pit flooded which idled the mine for about a week-and-a-half, Felty said.
"They are starting now to pump out their pit," Felty said.
There are an estimated 800 trucks traveling either state Route 34 or state Route 13 in a 24 hour period, it was said at the meeting.
The Eagle River Mine on state Route 145/34 near Mitchellsville that had recently begun production also had its pit filled with floodwater.
Harrisburg City Treasurer Richard Harper estimated Harrisburg's flood costs to be about $150,000.
He said about $55,000 were strictly overtime hours at the pump stations, about $50,000 is to cover the electric bill on the pump and the city rented or maintained at least six portable pumps.
As to the hardship on homeowners -- other than flooded out homes -- Ninness said many residents had to drive longer distances due to roads being flooded, that several relied on boats to reach the nearest roads and that some kids were having to walk through fields in order to get to school.
The public saw longer emergency response due to closed roads and some endured loss of telephone service.
Asked about shelters Ninness said Dorrisville Baptist Church was ready to house and feed flood refugees, but no one requested it.
"We were prepared, but didn't open," Brown said.
He said the church this week is to be housing volunteers in the area from the Southern Baptist Relief Organization who would be working in Saline and Gallatin counties removing mud from houses and chainsawing.
Brown said there could be ongoing flood-related expenses in that a series of storms is predicted this week and the ground remains very moist. On Barnett Street in Harrisburg numerous old oak trees were uprooted due to a storm Monday night.
Simoncelli said he was pleased by the preliminary expense reports.
"You guys are well-prepared. We didn't expect to have numbers here. We just wanted to talk," Simoncelli said.
He said if a federal disaster is declared there will be a kick-off day and the final figures are due 60 days from then.
Jones asked about a time frame for the disaster to be declared, but Simoncelli had little guidance.
"It could be this Friday or it could be a month from now," Simoncelli said.
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DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.</li>
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