Federal and state funds aren't there to help communities avoid floods.

& lt;a href=mailto:skolnick@vindy.com & gt;By DAVID SKOLNICK & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
F LOCAL COMMUNITIES ARE LOOKING to the government to pay for infrastructure improvements to avoid future flooding problems, they're going to be disappointed.
"There's not much in the federal budget for that," said U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland of Lisbon, D-6th, about federal money for local projects such as storm sewer systems or waterline improvements.
It's not much better on the state side.
Rob Glenn, Ohio Emergency Management Agency spokesman, said there is money available, and some has already been paid, for communities to pay for infrastructure that was damaged by the July floods.
But if the communities are looking for the state to pay to rebuild or significantly upgrade storm sewer and water systems to avoid future problems, they are probably going to be out of luck.
'Local responsibility'
"That's a local responsibility," he said. "Wholesale infrastructure improvements are going to be difficult to fund. Our goal is to get people and communities back to where they were before the flooding. But because of the limitations of flooding, sometimes people's needs aren't totally met, and the same can be said for public entities."
Heavy rainfall, including more than 10 inches in the Mahoning Valley, caused about $30 million in damage in July in 14 Ohio counties that were declared federal disaster areas.
Damage here
About $15 million to $20 million in damage in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties was caused by the rain and a tornado that touched down July 21 on Youngstown's East Side.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide about $2.7 million to Ohio to be divided among the 20 counties, including the three in the Mahoning Valley, declared federal disaster areas to fund infrastructure improvements, Strickland said. That's an average of $135,000 per county.
But with major water and sewer improvement projects typically costing several hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even millions, Strickland said the money won't be there for local communities from the federal government.
Having represented southeastern Ohio counties in Congress for nine years, Strickland has dealt with FEMA on several occasions. Many of those counties border the Ohio River, and have been victimized by flooding in the past.
Strickland said the biggest help FEMA gave to a community he represents was Rutland in Meigs County. The agency purchased a number of homes in the town's flood plain when it was determined the area was going to be in repeated danger of flooding, he said.
"Even that was a fairly modest amount of money," Strickland said.
& lt;a href=mailto:skolnick@vindy.com & gt;skolnick@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;