Harlan County Courthouse

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The Harlan County Fiscal Court heard an update on the Presidential Disaster Declaration which was issued as a result of flooding in Harlan County in February.

Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley called on Harlan County Emergency Management Director Stephen Lewis to update the magistrates on the issue.

Lewis told the court he had recently taken representatives from Kentucky Emergency Management to the sites around the county which had been severely impacted by the flood.

“We are ready for FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to come and do their site surveys,” Lewis said. “They have not given us a date to set up those surveys yet.”

According to Lewis, the surveys will be scheduled as soon as FEMA is ready.

“As soon as they call, we can get that scheduled,” Lewis said. “We don’t know the timeline or when they’ll call…we’re just waiting.”

Lewis mentioned the deadline for reporting damage is nearing.

“We’re still roughly two weeks away from our deadline,” Lewis said. “It’s July 8. So if you all find anything in your districts, let me or Ryan know so we can look at it and we can add that to the list.”

Lewis also talked about a buyout program for properties in areas prone to flooding which is being considered by FEMA.

“The hazard mitigation – the buyout – we have a letter and it should be in your packets…it’s just some things they’ve sent to us,” Lewis said. “It’s things FEMA has sent to us to keep the process going. There is no timeline for that, but we’re slowly moving forward in the process.”

Mosley addressed the slow pace of the process.

“I think it’s not moved as fast as we’ve seen in previous disasters largely in part because FEMA has had a lot of disasters. They have been responsive, but it has definitely been slower than we’ve seen with other (disasters),” Mosley said.

Magistrate Paul Browning mentioned in addition to the flooding, Kentucky has seen severe storms and tornados recently.

“In the middle of this, half the state was hit with tornadoes,” Browning said. “I don’t envy anyone at FEMA.”

Mosley added that in addition to the February flooding that initiated the Presidential Disaster Declaration, Kentucky also suffered flooding in March as well as multiple tornadoes throughout the state over the last few months.

“Then there’s what they (FEMA) have had to deal with nationwide,” Mosley said. “Tornadoes in the south, tornadoes in Ohio and Illinois. Just this past weekend there was a major flooding event in West Virginia. It has just been a ridiculous number of natural disasters.”