Flood damage awes Strickland

The congressman hopes some of the $2 billion Congress just approved is for Ohio.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Standing along a washed-out section of Cunningham Road, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland of Lisbon, D-6th, turned page after page of a notebook full of photographs, shaking his head in amazement.
The photographs were of flood damage in Salem Township from the Aug. 28-29 and Sept. 8-9 storms. Each storm dumped as much as 7 inches of rain in some parts of the county, resulting in widespread flooding.
Trustee John Wilms said 17 roads in the township were damaged in August, and many of those same areas were damaged again the following week.
Wilms said the township's budget is about $500,000 per year for everything, with around $200,000 for road maintenance, snow removal and salt. He said about $500,000 is needed just to repair the flood damage.
He said many of the roads now open were just given emergency repairs. Although some are passable, they still aren't safe for school buses or emergency vehicles to use them.
Why he was late
Strickland arrived at the Cunningham Road site a few minutes late for a scheduled press conference because he and his aid had to backtrack when they couldn't drive on a damaged stretch of Cunningham Road near state Route 344.
"We need a disaster declaration, and even with that, it takes six or seven months to get the FEMA money," Wilms told Strickland. "They want us to make the repairs and then they pay us back. That takes six or seven months, and we need the money now. We don't have the money to front those repairs."
Strickland said he is concerned that most of the attention of President Bush and the Congress has been on the hurricane devastation in Florida. He sent President Bush a letter Monday stating that although his constituents are sympathetic to the needs that exist in Florida and elsewhere, "They are very concerned that they may 'fall through the cracks' given all the attention that is being directed on the coastal areas of the country."
Strickland spent the weekend with flood victims in Belmont County, where many people lost everything in flooding. He said people were sleeping in their cars after floodwaters destroyed their wood-frame homes or toppled their mobile homes.
Requested by Taft
Strickland said Gov. Bob Taft sent President Bush a letter Sept. 7 asking for the federal disaster declaration for Columbiana County. Strickland asked President Bush to include both the Aug. 27 and Sept. 8 storms, as well as any damage from the likely impact of Hurricane Ivan.
"Florida got federal disaster relief right away," Strickland said. "Declarations in Florida were granted even before assessments were made. They hand-delivered the checks."
"We'll take a hand-delivered check," Wilms said.
"We'll drive down [to Washington, D.C.,] and get the check," said Neal Crowl, a Salem Township resident and owner of Turbo Excavating. He and his workers have made many of the repairs in the township.
"This is the worst damage I've ever seen here," he said. "It will take about $10,000 just for the material to fix just this road [Cunningham]," Crowl said. "That's about 1,500 tons of material, plus we have to reroute the creek and backfill all this. That's about $20,000 more."
"Then what can you do to keep this from happening again?" Strickland asked.
"Nothing," Crowl said. "That's the bad part."
Vowed to contact Bush
Strickland vowed to contact President Bush every day until the county is given a federal disaster declaration. He said Congress just approved $2 billion more for FEMA for disaster relief, and he hopes some of it is for Ohio.
Flooding in 2003 resulted in nearly $300,000 in damages in Salem Township. Wilms said the Federal Emergency Management Agency promised $69,000 then, but that money has yet to arrive in Salem Township.
Wilms said trustees are concerned that there has still been no word from the federal government about flood relief this time, and they're spending money now they'll need for winter snow removal.
By contrast, flash floods in August ripped out a section of state Route 45 just a few yards from the Cunningham Road damage, creating a hole about 65 feet deep. The Ohio Department of Transportation began repairing that damage almost immediately, and the state highway is to reopen sometime in October.
tullis@vindy.com