In a letter sent to the White House today, Third District Congressman Mike Rogers (R-Saks) asked President Bush to expedite federal disaster assistance to flood-ravaged East Alabama.

 

“Last week’s floods, winds and tornadoes have had a devastating impact on many areas of the state, including seven of the counties I represent in the Third District,” Rogers said in the letter to President Bush. “These events have overwhelmed local government resources and are financially beyond their abilities.”

 In the first step toward securing federal disaster aid, Governor Bob Riley asked the president this weekend to declare sixteen Alabama counties as federal disaster areas. State emergency management officials said more than 700 homes received major damage, and local governments were hit with over $32 million in cleanup and emergency staffing costs.

 

Rogers said these storms were the most recent in a series of disasters in East Alabama, adding “these counties have been impacted by other disasters in the past 12 months, adding to the costs associated with this disaster.”

 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will begin a public awareness campaign as soon as the disaster area is declared. All individuals, businesses and local governments must use the publicized toll-free telephone number to report their losses to FEMA officials, who then distribute aid through the state Emergency Management Agency.

 

Third District counties included in the proposed disaster area include Chambers, Clay, Cleburne, Lee, Randolph, Russell and Talladega.