Luzerne County declared disaster area

WILKES-BARRE-Late Friday, they received encouraging news — some help is on the way.A press release issued by the White House office of the press secretary at around 6:45 p.m. announced that President Bush declared a major disaster exists in Pennsylvania, freeing federal money available for eligible local governments in eight counties, including Luzerne.

The news came after the area’s elected officials strongly urged the president to declare a federal emergency in Pennsylvania. U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum, both R-Pa., co-wrote a letter to Bush on Thursday. So did U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke. U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood, R-Tunkhannock Township, wrote to the White House and spoke with Federal Emergency Management Agency director R. David Paulison. Gov. Ed Rendell also had a phone conversation with the president.

Hats off to all of our elected officials for working together during this emergency. This what government is supposed to do. We can give credit to President Clinton for making improvements to the levee system a priority after he saw the damage that 1996 flood caused. The Congress provided most of the money for the project and the state and county governments provided their share of the funding. The Army Corps of Engineers designed and built a flood control system that in this case probably saved us from billions in damage and some loss of life.

However, not everyone escaped the waters rath. The last I heard at least a 1,000 homes were damaged in Luzerne County alone. Now it's the government's job to help those affected to clean up the mess. Some aid has been approved but much more will be dependent on filling out the FEMA paperwork on time:

Friday’s declaration of federal emergency is limited in its scope. It will provide those eight counties .... for clearing debris and providing emergency services. It will not provide aid to homeowners and businesses affected by the flood. A declaration of that variety could be made on Monday. FEMA officials are expected to arrive after the weekend to survey the damage in the area. Before their arrival, government leaders throughout Luzerne County’s 76 municipalities will have to complete the monumental task of assessing the property damage in their communities.

To receive federal aid, each town will need to hand a damage assessment into the county EMA by 2 p.m. Sunday. County officials will combine all that data into one report, which they will give to FEMA officials on Monday, Bekanich said. FEMA could then immediately approve the county for federal aid or its officials could do a “windshield survey,” in which county officials would drive them to the worst hit areas. The tight schedule will put pressure on local governments to catalog enough property damage to qualify for federal aid.

If FEMA gives it's blessing people will get an 800 number to call and more paperwork to fill out.