EAST ST. LOUIS — The Illinois congressional delegation is calling on President Joe Biden to approve Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s request for federal disaster relief grants for St. Clair County residents hit by July 26 flash floods.
In a letter Tuesday, both of the state’s U.S. senators and all 18 of its U.S. House members urged the president to approve Pritzker’s request to make FEMA Individual Assistance grants available to residents whose homes and property were damaged by the historic downpour. Such assistance has been available for weeks on the Missouri side of the metro area, they pointed out.
“These were the same storms that caused damage across the river in Missouri, following which you swiftly approved Missouri Governor Mike Parson’s request for a Federal Disaster Declaration,†the Illinois delegation wrote to Biden. “We believe Illinois residents deserve equal consideration amid the same weather events to receive federal assistance toward recovery as well.â€
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Both Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth have visited the Metro East following the floods.
St. Clair County and Illinois officials have been working to win disaster assistance from the federal government. Two weeks ago, they toured hard-hit neighborhoods in East ºüÀêÊÓƵ with FEMA inspectors to assess damage. Residents in one of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ region’s poorest communities talked about the difficulty they had obtaining help to rebuild after floodwater swamped their homes, and wondered why they were being treated differently than flood victims just across the Mississippi River.
Illinois and St. Clair County emergency officials said obtaining a disaster declaration was more difficult in Illinois because of the state’s larger size than Missouri and the more limited impact of the storm as compared to more densely populated areas in ºüÀêÊÓƵ. St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Director Herb Simmons said last month that FEMA and state officials told him locals need to show $9 million in damages if they hope to trigger individual assistance grants. Officials had tallied just $8.4 million prior to the FEMA visit Aug. 17.
But a FEMA spokeswoman insisted that there is no threshold to trigger federal approval of a state’s request for a disaster declaration.
The FEMA damage assessment with St. Clair County and the state found over 700 homes damaged, according to the congressional letter, by the record 9 inches of rainfall that hit the ºüÀêÊÓƵ region in 12 hours. As much as a foot was recorded in some parts of the metro area.
If granted, the request could open up federal grants to help Metro East residents pay for repairs, property loss and temporary housing. Some 20 families were evacuated due to the rainfall, according to the letter, and residents whose homes were uninhabitable were staying at a hotel in O’Fallon, paid for by the county. A disaster declaration could also open funds to help governments pay for property buyouts in flood-prone areas or take other mitigation measures.
Meanwhile, following the disaster declaration in Missouri, FEMA has opened five centers where people can apply for assistance, and it has approved nearly $30 million in grants to some 8,000 families.