How Does Royalston Receive Federal Aid After a Disaster?

People often ask almost the instance a disaster occurs, when will we receive money from FEMA?  There are also some, often unasked, questions about why the town didn't have some department or departments on standby before a predicted event occurs?  The answers may not be satisfactory to many but, as they say, it is what it is.

There is no big bucket of money waiting for us to need some of it.  The disaster must have occurred.  Once it is obvious the event has exceeded local resources the Governor must make a formal request for Federal assistance.  Then a team, often including FEMA personnel, will come out and review the damage with us.  This work is known as the Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA).  During this work, it is extremely helpful if residents have captured damage information themselves, including pictures, and made them available to REMA.  The result of all of this work is usually summed up in a number:  the cost to fix the damage.  If the total for a County is high enough, a disaster can be declared for that County.  If the total for a State is high enough, a disaster can be declared for that State.  And, if the President believes this amount is such that federal help is warranted he will declare a major disaster or emergency.  This is the first time we can be assured of reimbursement for some of our expenses.  This is why we normally do not have the fire department or DPW, for example, standing by just in case.  This takes weeks and doesn't typically start until the event is done or nearly so.  If all of this preliminary work is not successful we will not have our expenses reimbursed.  

Then, the real work for REMA begins.  We must do a major, detailed analysis of all of the damage.  There are hundreds of forms to complete and numerous meetings with FEMA assigned projects teams.  All of our work is first reviewed by MEMA and then by FEMA.  At that point, we can be approved for reimbursement.  It is also helpful to know that we are only reimbursed for 75% of the costs and that we cannot be reimbursed at all for town employees during normal hours.  So even with reimbursement, a major disaster will still cost you money.  

One way to offset a lot of the 25% not reimbursed is through volunteer activities.  If you go out and help open the road following a storm and if you carefully document that activity including the hours worked and anything, such as a chainsaw, you used FEMA recognized that the work you did as a volunteer was work we didn't have to pay for and that they didn't have to reimburse for.  They will increase our reimbursement some amount.  The amount certainly isn't what you are worth, but it helps us a lot.