Emmer: FEMA’s underestimate caused need for more disaster recovery funds in Minn.

U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) last week joined a bipartisan, bicameral delegation of his Minnesota colleagues in urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide more federal funds and to reassess its 2019 damages estimate following last spring’s destructive weather across the state.

Severe weather and widespread flooding in spring 2019 contributed to infrastructure damage in 51 counties and four tribal governments across Minnesota, according to a Feb. 11 letter sent to FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor that Rep. Emmer signed with several colleagues, including U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN).

Federal assistance to aid in the state’s recovery was requested by the governor at that time, wrote the members, who also contacted the president for an immediate disaster declaration.

“We have heard concerns that FEMA finalized the preliminary damage assessment before our communities could accurately inventory the damage caused to their infrastructure,” wrote Rep. Emmer and the lawmakers. “Since that time, the actual cost of recovery has increased from FEMA’s $40 million estimate to $76 million.”

Minnesota already has allocated nearly $10 million from its State Disaster Assistance Contingency Account to fund its 25 percent share and now needs to cover the additional $9 million of unanticipated recovery costs, they wrote.

FEMA’s underestimation of damages, they wrote, has contributed to a deficiency in the State Disaster Assistance Contingency Account, causing uncertainty about whether the state can provide emergency funding for any severe weather events this year before the 2020 state legislative session begins.

“Minnesotans are resilient and have demonstrated their ability to come together to respond to and recover from weather disasters through the partnership of the federal government,” Rep. Emmer and the lawmakers wrote. “It is for this reason that we ask FEMA to provide additional financial assistance to the state and undertake a full review of the procedures that it relied on in developing its estimate of the damages in Minnesota so that similar situations can be prevented in the future.”