Teams from FEMA are expected to begin federal damage assessment in Forrest and Lamar counties Tuesday. After finishing up in those two counties, FEMA officials will move to Perry County for damage assessment. Public assistance teams, tasked with damage assessment of infrastructure, are expected to arrive in the area Wednesday.
So what we are hoping is that the disaster recovery centers will be established by the end of this week for individuals to come in and begin applying for aid," said Lee Smithson, executive director of MEMA. "When we go back to the 2013 (tornado), it was well over five days before displaced citizens could go in and start their registration. "So we're confident that it will be much, much faster than that because of the efforts of the people of this community. So we're looking forward to that."
Although officials said it was still too early to determine monetary damage, Smithson said the threshold for public assistance is $4.2 million in damage to infrastructure. For individual assistance, the threshold requires more than 250 homes to be damaged.
"So, obviously, we've met that threshold for individual assistance," Smithson said. "FEMA has gotten a lot better ... so if the information is correct, you could see the possibility of 10 to 14 business days from the time it gets processed (for individual assistance)."
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"In other words, in a normal setting, city services cannot be rendered to an individual's personal property — we can't go and move a tree for them," Council President Carter Carroll said. "But if we've got a tree that's leaning down and it's about to fall on a house or a car, we can (now) go in there and cut that tree down because it's a safety issue. "So it's very important to act under a state of emergency — it gives us the authority to establish a curfew, things like that." A curfew for the affected areas — from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. — was put in place by a 5-0 vote at Monday's meeting. Council also voted 5-0 to approve two items that approve requests for proposals for service related to removal of tornado debris.
"Because we're in a state of emergency, we don't have to advertise (bids) for 30 days — we only have to do it for five or six," Carroll said. "But if we don't do it this way, then we won't be reimbursed by FEMA. "So a lot of people are wondering why we're not acting faster — (that's because) we've just got to go through this bureaucratic process to make sure we get reimbursed."
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