U.S. Reps. Joe Donnelly and Mark Souder want to see documents explaining why Nappanee was denied federal aid after a tornado hit the Elkhart County town in October.

Donnelly, D-2nd, and Souder, R-3rd, sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency asking for evidence of how the decision to deny aid to the city was reached.

A tornado hit Nappanee Oct. 18 as part of a storm system that caused damage in Marshall, Elkhart and Kosciusko counties.

Gov. Mitch Daniels asked FEMA to provide disaster relief to area residents, but the request was denied in November.

The damage to the region did not meet criteria for relief funding under the law, FEMA Director Dave Paulson told state officials. An appeal of the decision also was denied."FEMA may expect people to give them the benefit of the doubt in situations like this, but I'll do no such thing until I have a better idea of how it came to its decisions," Donnelly said in a statement. "Until additional information is forthcoming, Mark and I will hold their feet to the fire."

Souder echoed those sentiments in a statement, saying "it astounds me that FEMA could issue such denials, and I'm concerned that this federal agency is biased against small towns."

The two asked FEMA for an answer within 14 days.

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security calculated the official damage at 51 homes destroyed, 137 homes with major damage, and another 201 with minor damage. More than 100 businesses were damaged or destroyed in the storm, along with vehicles and other property.

Nappanee did receive nearly $200,000 from the state to help with the damage in late January. The money will help reimburse the city for debris removal and damage to public infrastructure such as roads and buildings.Taking FEMA to task probably won't get any assistance for Nappanee, but that's OK, said Larry Thompson, mayor of the 6,700-resident city.

Thompson said the agency should have a provision to help smaller towns, which might suffer massive damage in terms of percentage, but because of their small size won't suffer as widespread damage as a larger city.

"There should be a way, based on a percentage for population, or for sizes of cities, where if you reach a threshold of damages, you can get FEMA help," he said.The city itself is pretty well taken care of, Thompson said, thanks to the state contribution for public infrastructure damage, and to private contributions that poured in after the storm for the individual victims.

His focus is to make sure other communities aren't left in the lurch.

"Let's fix it for the future," he said. "And if Nappanee can be used as an example to help get people money in the future, well, we're glad to play that role."