President Bush Praises Emergency Management Of Ohio Disaster
Cleveland, Ohio -- President George W. Bush praised emergency management workers during a visit to Lake County in northeastern Ohio yesterday. The county was one of three Ohio counties declared a major disaster area on Tuesday.
Jesse Munoz, FEMA’s federal coordinating officer, joined Ohio Governor Bob Taft and a dozen local officials who met with President Bush at the Lake County Emergency Operations Center for almost an hour to brief him on the recent devastating severe storms and flooding that struck the area on July 27 and 28. The group of officials all told the President that the emergency management had proceeded very well.
“We were already in northern Ohio providing assistance for another disaster declaration when the new storms hit,” Munoz told the President. “We had staff in place to move very quickly on the Governor’s request to conduct joint Preliminary Damage Assessments on Monday.”
Munoz explained to President Bush that community relations specialists were already distributing application flyers throughout the hardest hit areas in the community. These flyers, printed in both English and Spanish, provided a toll-free number and Web site where disaster victims could apply for assistance. Plans also are being finalized to open several joint Disaster Recovery Centers this weekend in the affected counties. These centers provide a one-stop location for assistance from federal and state agencies, as well as low-interest loan information from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Specialists also are available at the centers to explain cost-effective ways that individuals can use to help reduce future disaster damages.
President Bush indicated that additional forms of federal assistance may be added to the latest declaration. In just a month, more than $6.9 million in grants has been approved for more than 5,800 applicants in the initial Ohio disaster declaration, which was issued on July 2. The declaration covers six counties in northern Ohio and more than 11,000 residents have applied for assistance.
Last Modified: Friday, 04-Aug-2006 03:49:45 EDT