Two months after the EF-3 tornado that cut a swath of destruction through north and east Columbus, blue tarps still dot the landscape in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city. They are telltale signs of a waiting game property owners are playing before repairs can be made.
One of those blue-tarp housetops belongs to Robert Murry Jr., who is waiting on a contractor to begin repairs on his heavily damaged home on Railroad Street now that his insurance company has approved his claim for approximately $27,000 in damage.
“It should cover everything, praise God,” said Murry, a 72-year-old Vietnam veteran who has lived at the home since leaving the service in 1970. “God’s been blessing me here lately.”
But for others, news that came down last week means they’ll be waiting for help that may never come.
On Friday, The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will not provide assistance for private property owners who suffered damage from the tornado in Columbus and the accompanying flooding in Lowndes and six other counties.
The announcement came as a shock to local and MEMA officials, to say nothing of the residents who will receive no government assistance to repair/rebuild their properties.
“I was very surprised,” said Lowndes County Emergency Management Director Cindy Lawrence, who had urged residents to be patient as they waited for a federal declaration that would trigger the flow federal dollars.
Instead, FEMA funds will be provided only for repairs on public properties, which were estimated at $9.5 million in Lowndes County. The damage to private property likely dwarfs that amount.
“This is going to be a real hardship for so many people,” Lawrence said. “A lot of them don’t have (homeowners) insurance. A lot of landlords don’t have insurance, either. This is very disappointing news.”
For Nellie McGee, 60, the news means it may be months before she can have needed repairs to her home on 10th Avenue North where she has lived for 30 years.
“You can see the tarp,” she said. “It’s pretty much the front part of the house. The water didn’t get into the house, but the ceiling tiles have lots of brown stains, so water did get into the attic. It knocked down some of the fence around the yard.”
McGee said the estimate for the repairs came to $5,000. She assumed FEMA would cover that cost.
Now, she said, those repairs will have to wait.
“Most of homeowners were counting on (the FEMA assistance) and the people renting were counting on it, too,” McGee said. “It’s a big letdown.”
MEMA to appeal
In its announcement, MEMA said it intends to appeal FEMA’s decision within 30 days.
“We haven’t given up on getting individual assistance,” said T.J. Werre, of MEMA’s public information staff. “What (FEMA) does is it takes our numbers, then they do their own survey of every kind of damage, whether it’s private or public. They make their own judgment based on their evaluation (of what qualifies for relief). What gets confused is their interpretation. We believe that individual assistance is appropriate, and that will be the basis of our appeal.”
Calls to FEMA representatives were unreturned by press time.
Lawrence, too, said she’s still hopeful FEMA will reverse its ruling and is working with Lowndes County Tax Assessor Greg Andrews to compile accurate data of the damage.
“It’s not final yet,” Lawrence said. “We believe we can make a strong case.”
Andrews said that his office surveyed the damage shortly after the storm.
“There were 1,600 properties that were affected,” Andrews said.
Of that group, 275 homes and 38 businesses were found to have been destroyed or significantly damaged, but Andrews said he’s confident the total damage is far greater.
“In three weeks, I’ll have that information,” Andrews said. “But if you were to say it’s $50 million, you probably wouldn’t be that far off.”
Rep. Kabir Karriem said he plans to ask state and national lawmakers to support the appeal.
“I plan to call the governor’s office on Monday,” Karriem said. “I’m also going to reach out to our representatives in Washington.
“The people here absolutely need the help and we have to come together to do what we can,” he added. “Whether that means 30 days from now FEMA changes it mind or not, we need to have a Plan B or even a Plan C. The answer can’t be that these people won’t get the help they need. We have to find a way.”
The office of Gov. Phil Bryant did not respond to a request for a statement Friday afternoon.
Still doubtful
Murry said he never expected much help from FEMA to start with.
“They came out here, talked to me about 15 to 20 minutes, walked around, looked at everything,” Murry said. “By their qualifications, they said it was enough damage. But I knew they weren’t going to do anything anyway. It wasn’t even on my mind they would do something. To me, FEMA is just sorry.”
McGee is still hopeful, not only for herself, but for many of her neighbors whose properties were more severely damaged.
“For me, if they don’t change their minds, all I know to do is work and wait and save until I can do it myself. I don’t know how long that will take. It won’t be anytime soon,” she said. “But what worries me is there are people that couldn’t even stay in their homes because of the damage. I’ve still got a roof over my head. But what happens to them? What are they going to do?”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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