As Harney County attempts to recover from a devastating flood in early April, it’s likely going to have to do it without the help of the federal government.
Harney County was one of four Oregon counties that applied for emergency funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency due to spring flooding. Coos, Curry and Douglas counties received news July 22 that damage in Southern Oregon reached the threshold for a major disaster, which opened up federal funding. But FEMA formally denied the Harney County portion of the application last week.
It’s a blow to the city of Burns and the neighboring Burns Paiute Reservation. After heavy rains and snowmelt overwhelmed the banks of the Silvies River, the flood forced more than 1,000 people from their homes at its height and severely damaged the city’s sewer system. Burns city manager Judy Erwin said she had always been skeptical that the federal government would come through for the county.
“I never believed FEMA was ever going to help us,” she said. “It was a slap in the face, however, that they helped all the other counties and omitted ours.”
In a letter to Gov. Tina Kotek, Keith Turi, the acting associate director for FEMA’s office of response and recovery, wrote that although all the floods happened around the same time, the storm that inundated southwestern Oregon was not the same one that affected Harney County, meaning they could not be a part of the same package. By itself, Turi wrote, Harney County did not meet the threshold for the “severity and magnitude” required under FEMA’s individual assistance program, which would have provided funding for household repairs.
“The law and regulations require FEMA to review each request closely and consider the unique circumstances of disaster-caused damages as well as state and local capacity,” a FEMA spokesperson wrote in an email. “This decision just like all disaster requests was based on policy not politics.”
Lilli Lessey, a program analyst for the Oregon Department of Emergency Management, said the state intentionally included all three together to give Harney County a better chance at being funded since they knew it was unlikely to clear damage thresholds given the county’s sparse population.
Lessey said the state can appeal the decision, but is still weighing its options.
Trying to secure the funding had been a bipartisan issue for prominent Oregonians who represent Harney County. Gov. Tina Kotek personally toured the damage after the floodwaters receded. After FEMA’s decision, U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley put out a joint statement saying they “deeply oppose” the denial.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, grew up in the county and said in recent remarks that he had a close relationship with the White House. In an interview after the speech but before FEMA’s letter to Kotek, Bentz said he supported FEMA sending assistance for Harney County.
“I lived 60 miles out (from Burns), but that was home,” he said. “We already held a meeting there and we want them to be included.”
A representative for Bentz did not return a request for comment about FEMA’s denial.
This is not the first time FEMA has denied disaster relief under the Trump administration. The agency has turned down applications following natural disasters across the country, surprising some states’ leaders. The administration has argued that states should bear more financial responsibility for disaster recoveries.
Oregon has already committed some money toward Harney County’s clean up efforts. Before the session ended, the state Legislature agreed to send $3 million to Burns to repair its sewer system and another $3 million for future flood mitigation. The latter spending is especially important after an old, privately-owned levee failed to hold back floodwaters.
Erwin, the Burns city manager, said the city was especially interested in the individual assistance program so residents could start repairing and rebuilding their homes. Without it, the city is now seeking private funding to help pay for that work.
In the meantime, Erwin said, some families have temporarily relocated while others have moved away permanently. She added that a third group was learning to live alongside the flood damage.
“A lot of people are simply going back in and living with what was left,” she said. “They have no options because there was no help.”