FEMA says Cedar Rapids flood director speeds recovery process

A Federal Emergency Management Agency official said in Cedar Rapids today that having a flood-recovery director in place six months ago would have sped up the damage-assessment process between the city and FEMA.

Todd Dolphin, infrastructure branch director for FEMA's regional office in Kansas City, Mo., applauded the city for creating the position, a move which he said is now speeding up FEMA's work with the city on finalizing damage assessments to the city's key buildings.

Just last month, flood-recovery director, Greg Eyerly, and City Manager Jim Prossser said that FEMA and the city were $100 million or more apart on the damage assessments to key city buildings.

Dolphin said having Eyerly in place in his current post six months earlier likely would have sped up the damage-assessment process.

He also said a city's hiring of consultants, which Cedar Rapids has done, can help a city prepare itself for making its case on damage assessments.

At the same time, Dolphin said the process might have gone faster if city staff members with knowledge of the flood-damaged city buildings had participated earlier in the process.

After working with Eyerly for the past few weeks, FEMA says it is now finding more damage than inspectors found earlier as they work to reinspect 16 key flood-damaged city buildings.

The reinspections are designed to bring FEMA and the city into agreement on the scope of work required to fix the damage, which is the basis for how much FEMA ultimately will pay the city for repairs.

Dolphin said he suspected that part of the $100-million gap involves the city's desire to rebuild flood-damaged buildings bigger, differently and/or with new features.

FEMA, he noted, pays to return a flood-damaged public building to what it had been prior to a disaster, which can include improvements to ensure that any rebuilding is up to current building standards. In addition, FEMA also will provide some funds to make changes to a building so it can withstand another disaster. One example is moving electrical and mechanical systems higher in a building so they are not flooded again, Dolphin noted.

In the assessment of damage to public buildings, Dolphin said the city of Cedar Rapids has not presented any greater challenge to FEMA than other cities of similar size.

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