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The Harlan County Fiscal Court heard an update on activities related to severe weather in February when storms brought large amounts of rain to the area causing flooding and widespread damage.

Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley brought the matter to the attention of the court.

“This is the presidential disaster declaration update,” Mosley said. “I’m going to turn it over to Stephen Lewis (Harlan County Emergency Management Director)…the only thing I’ll say is I think we’re still waiting on FEMA for the public assistance side to come in and see the infrastructure.”

Mosley explained that FEMA has not yet determined which damages will receive assistance.

“They have to come back and look individually at each project and identify what projects become a project,” Mosley said.

Mosley turned the floor over to Lewis for an update.

“You have until July 8, to let us know if you find any damages to bridges, roadways, or anything like that,” Lewis said.

According to Lewis, the next step is for FEMA to do site inspections of the damage.

“We’re just waiting to hear from them on that,” Lewis said. “That should be coming pretty soon. They’ll be coming in and everything we have on the list will be inspected…then it should start moving forward from there.”

Lewis also provided an update on the buyout program.

“The deadline (to apply) for that was April 30,” Lewis said. “That deadline’s past, nobody else can apply for that. We’ve had a total of 12 people sign up for that buyout program.”

Lewis explained there has been no information on funding for the buyout program as of yet.

Magistrates Bill Moore and Paul Browning mentioned multiple locations in their districts to add to the list for consideration.

“This is not fast,” Mosley said. “It’s never been fast, but given the fact we have had so many counties impacted by flooding not only in the February event but in an event that happened just a month after the February event, it’s just slow both on the FEMA and NRCS side of it. Now, FEMA of course is dealing with the tornados that have ravaged some communities.”

Mosley noted the multiple disaster events which have occurred in Kentucky over the past few months have created a large back log of issues for FEMA to consider.

“It’s been frustrating,” Mosley said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to get all these things that need to be addressed, addressed once the process does start.”