SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Victims of the Jan. 22 storm and flooding in San Diego are utilizing every avenue to receive help in their recovery as they seek a return to normalcy. As of Feb. 5, that mostly entails aid from local and state governments, support from community groups and helps from their fellow neighbors.
ABC 10News is digging into another possible channel flood victims would like to take advantage of: Federal aid.
A public affairs officer from Federal Emergency Management Agency Region 9 explained their role in the recovery process, and what steps need to be taken for federal aid to be allocated to this problem.
PAO Brandi Richard Thompson says the state and county need to request a presidential disaster after reviewing the data they've collected during damage assessments so far.
"Now it's up to the county and the state to start to put their data together based on what we were able to find and determine whether or not that damage exceeds the capability of the state and the county to be able to support those individuals who were impacted," Richard Thompson says. "Once they make that decision and put the data together, provide that report to their leadership team, they will make a decision about whether or not they'll request a presidential disaster, which is what most people think of when they think about FEMA, is a major disaster declaration that's signed by the president that would allow individuals to receive individual assistance."
Richard Thompson also explained another category of federal aid dollars for disaster response.
"Sometimes, it also allows the community to receive what we call public assistance, which helps with bridges and roads and things like that. And then sometimes, based on the data that they put together, they choose one or the other, or, you know, a combination of the assistance that's available from FEMA based on the data that they found during the assessment," she says.
According to Thompson, neither the county nor the state has requested a presidential disaster declaration concerning the Jan. 22 storm as of Monday afternoon.
Below, you'll find a transcribed version of this interview, including answers to questions about what this means for people without flood insurance, how people can stay up to date on resources and FEMA's next steps in storm response. You can watch the interview in the video player at the top of this page.
QUESTION 1: Basically, what we're trying to glean from this interview is the process for getting federal aid for the storm victims. Can you give me a summary of what that looks like exactly? I understand y'all were out here last week surveying damage, but I don't believe there's been an official declaration yet. So — what's that process look like?
ANSWER: "The process starts with the preliminary damage assessments — actually started a little bit before that when we're asked to come and support that process with the state and county officials. And so we were there, and were able to wrap that up this past weekend. The damages from San Diego floods from about a week ago have been assessed by [FEMA, state and local] teams, and so now it's up to the county and the state to start to put their data together based on what we were able to find and determine whether or not that damage exceeds the capability of the state and the county to be able to support those individuals who were impacted," Richard Thompson says. "Once they make that decision and put the data together, provide that report to their leadership team, they will make a decision about whether or not they'll request a presidential disaster, which is what most people think of when they think about FEMA, is a major disaster declaration that's signed by the president that would allow individuals to receive individual assistance... Sometimes it also allows the community to receive what we call public assistance, which helps with bridges and roads and things like that. And then sometimes, based on the data that they put together, they choose one or the other, or, you know, a combination of the assistance that's available from FEMA based on the data that they found during the assessment."
QUESTION 2: As I'm sure you're aware, Gov. Newsom declared a state of emergency for not only San Diego County, but several other counties in response to the storms. What role does that play, if any, in the FEMA response? Does that help expedite things? Does that involve what you were just saying about assessing the damage?
ANSWER: "So we have to figure out if those are separate events, or if they're the same event. It looks like they're separate, because there was the rain that happened in San Diego before or if this is all a part of that atmospheric river flows that have come through the state. If they are combined in some way, that's that's a different conversation. But for right now, I would look at them as separate events. And so what's going on with the atmospheric rivers now, another decision can be made just based on the damage that's occurring, where the damage is occurring, the level of damage that the governor, the counties that you mentioned, have seen in their communities as to whether or not they believe that the damage exceeds the capability of the county and state to respond and manage it... That they need to request a major disaster declaration or any type of disaster declaration from the federal government. And so, they are going to make that decision similar to the way they're making the decision about the preliminary damage assessment from the severe flooding that happened in San Diego. They can look at the damage in a variety of ways, but they they ultimately will make that decision."
QUESTION 3: When the FEMA Region 9 team was inspecting storm damage in San Diego last week, from your opinion, or from your point of view, did that damage meet the threshold for federal response? Or does this still need to go through the channels of assessing damage at local and county levels?
ANSWER: "That's a little bit outside of my realm of responsibility as to whether or not it meets the requirements. But I do want to share a couple of factors... Whether or not people have insurance or not goes into determining whether or not assistance can be provided to the disaster impacted. Profile impact to community infrastructure, casualties and disaster related unemployment are some of the areas that we look at. And on our website you can find out, you know, a full explanation of how individual assistance in particular is determined and additional information on how public assistance would be determined in the community as well."
QUESTION 4: We've done several stories on the flood insurance problem, and we actually have conducted a poll as well. It was... about 500 people or so. And based on that poll, it seems like a lot of people in San Diego don't have that flood insurance. So even before a presidential disaster declaration, is there a way that these victims could get any aid because they don't have insurance already?
ANSWER: "That's an excellent question. And I was there on the ground and spoke to a lot of those impacted residents who did not have flood insurance. It's really sad to see that they need so much support right now, and weren't totally clear on how to receive that support. And so last week, there was a local assistance center that brought individuals from a lot of different organizations and agencies in the state to help individuals to recover. Now, I believe that they're looking at opening another local assistance center. In the meantime, you can always call 211 to connect directly to nonprofit organizations and agencies that may have assistance available. The other thing that I saw when I was on the ground last week was that the American Red Cross went door-to-door, similar to us, in doing damage assessments to determine whether or not individuals were eligible for assistance directly from them. And there are other charitable organizations who are doing similar work in the community. So, I would really encourage individuals who were impacted, did not have flood insurance, to seek that immediate help, so that they can can be safe and home — definitely reach out to 211. And also reach out to your local and county emergency management offices to see other resources available that I might not know about at this point."
QUESTION 5: You briefly mentioned that flood victims could go to the FEMA website to try to see if they'd qualify for federal aid, assuming that a declaration is made at some point, but what is some of that criteria? How would one qualify for federal aid from FEMA when there is a declaration at the federal level in place?
ANSWER: "So — not exactly. They can go to the FEMA website to get information on the declaration process, and what the criteria are for the state and county to submit their information to know whether or not a federal declaration is possible for them. That might not be the information that a layperson would care as much about. However, there is information on our website and will be information on our website, if for some reason there is a federal declaration, individuals can go there to find out what steps they can take to apply for FEMA assistance. We're just not there yet. And so what we've instructed the folks in our call center to do is just be ready to provide those 211 resources to individuals who may reach out to us who are concerned about receiving assistance and did not have flood insurance or just need help, so that we can support getting the information out there to the community about what is available to them right now. I hesitate to talk about what is available through individual assistance, because there was so much miscommunication about the fact that people may be able to call us and get help. And they were so frustrated when they tried to reach out and then weren't able to receive help. But that information is available on our website if people just want to research. But right now, we're just waiting for the data to all be compiled and a decision to be made at the state level to determine whether or not they'll request a federal declaration. And then once a request is made, we will do all that we can to get that declaration done as quickly as possible if the state and county meet the criteria to allow us to be able to provide that assistance."
QUESTION 6: I understand that we have several of these events back to back. We had Jan. 22, we have the atmospheric rivers going on now. Does that slow down the time frame for this, because they're going to have those ongoing assessments or what does that look like?
ANSWER: "No, it doesn't. We are, you know, fully staffed and available to be able to get additional support out to the state and county, other counties who may be experiencing damage and need preliminary damage assessment. So we continue to be available and ready and on the spot to support the state and the county with any resources that they may need to be able to help Californians through this really challenging time, with so much flood water that they really just haven't experienced before. But there's one resource that I think we can make available to your viewers, which is ready.gov/floods. And also for those individuals who may be experiencing the atmospheric rivers that do have flood insurance: there's a wealth of information at floodsmart.gov to help you to start the process, to submit for your insurance claim, to get information on how to start cleaning up, the best ways to clean up, how you can document your damages and those kinds of things. And even for people who don't have insurance, there's some really great resources there that can help you just start the process of pulling things back together. The road to recovery is really long, but we want people to have the tools to be able to not only be ready.gov, but also start that process of recovery, through Flood Smart and other resources that we have as well."
QUESTION 7: I know you just said that you're hesitant to speak on some of what may or may not be available as far as aid goes until a declaration is actually in place. But let's say there was — does FEMA have a mechanism for notifying the victims, aside from just telling them to go to the website, or do they have some other channels?
ANSWER: "That's part of my job is to make sure that we're getting information out to you in the media to be able to share with individuals. We also send information out through local officials and county officials and state officials. So, if there is a declaration, it will be very clear to individuals that that is happening and how they can go about applying for assistance, whether it's calling us or going on our website and filling out an application, or going into a local assistance center, if one of those has opened up again, where we would have representatives to be able to help. So, please don't think that you won't know. You can definitely continue to watch our website FEMA.gov. But you can you can also be assured that all of us, all of the federal and local and state community want to make sure that people know what's available to them, especially if that were to happen."
QUESTION 8: Of course, most definitely. And again, another question about when something is in place. So what would the timing look like for receiving federal aid for an individual like one of these victims? What would it take weeks, months? And if so, is there any way for that time frame to be shortened or expedited?
ANSWER: It's really an individual, case-by-case basis. And I hate to say that because I want to make sure that people have all of the information that they need. But it depends on whether or not they have insurance. It depends on whether or not we're able to verify that they are who they say they are at the time that they submit the application. So, if they submit the application, and there may be some hiccups in the information that they submitted, we may have to go back and review it. And so I would hate to tell someone, 'Oh, it'll be really easy. You just submit the registration or the application and assistance will be right there for you.' Some people, it does take longer... One of the reasons why we encourage individuals to reach out to those nonprofit resources, like 211, is because we don't know, based on their individual situation, how long giving assistance will take, especially since we don't have a declaration right now. And so it's really important that individuals do what is necessary, so their families can be safe and whole and, you know, able to have a safe place to sleep at night until those other resources are available to them — if they become available to them.
QUESTION 9: OK, and under that scenario, would someone without flood insurance possibly get aid faster than someone who does have flood insurance?
ANSWER: "Well, it depends if if the individual has already reached out to their flood insurance provider and submitted a claim and is clear on their coverage, what their coverage is, what their coverage is not, then they can easily submit that information over to us. If for some reason they're having a challenge to getting that information back or, God forbid, those documents have been lost in the storm. And so they don't have access to them — that may take a little bit longer... Our goal is to get assistance to people as quickly as possible. And so once they submit their registration, if they give us a call, or reach out to us, we'll help them to navigate what ways can make it a lot easier for them to go ahead and fulfill the requirements to be able to receive assistance. And so I don't want people to worry about that, because we're really concerned about making sure that they get it as quickly as possible if they're eligible for it."
QUESTION 10: What are the next steps for FEMA right now? What's it looking like today? What will it look like tomorrow? What's going on in your world?
ANSWER: "Today, we're monitoring what's going on, not only because we're concerned about the state, and the the residents of the state, but we are also responsible for Arizona and Nevada. We're concerned about what impacts could move in that direction as well. We are closely monitoring what counties and states are telling to their residents so that we can amplify those messages and help them in the process of letting people know how to be during this time, because that's the most important thing right now. We're also setting up resources, just to be ready to support the state. Teams and individuals, people, resources, as well as actual commodities are in place, so that if the state were to call on us, those items would be available to them to be able to move out to the locations with where they are needed. And so we're constantly on the case of disasters. Unfortunately, it's happening in California right now in a way that it hasn't happened in so many years. And so we're really working with all of our partners to make sure that we're getting as much information out to folks as possible, and that all of our resources are in place to support at a moment's notice."
QUESTION 11: Is there anything else you'd like to add that we didn't touch on already?
ANSWER: I just want to make sure that people know that we are working very closely with the state and with the county to provide this as swiftly as possible. And our teams are working around the clock last week just to make sure that those initial preliminary damage assessments were completed and San Diego, San Diego and we'll be doing that in other counties as well, to make sure that people can get the assistance that is available to them as quickly as possible. And so thank you for talking to us. Thank you for your patience with this process. I know it can be frustrating, and definitely reach out to us if we can support you in any way.
