“I regret that we could not respond favorably to your request. Sincerely, W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency,” read the rejection letter, sent in June. It was a pleasant enough way of saying, “Sorry about that $38 million—but good luck with your budget!”
The letter, addressed to Gov. Jerry Brown, was responding to the state’s request for the federal government to categorize as a major disaster the storms that bore down on 17 counties across California between March 15 and March 27.
In a July 14 written appeal to President Obama, Brown fired back: “The March storm system caused significant financial impacts to the state and the affected local jurisdictions that are of such severity and magnitude that recovery efforts remain beyond our capabilities.”
Estimates of the total damage from the storms currently hover around $51 million. If FEMA approved California's request for disaster status, the federal government would kick in 75 percent of the costs—$38 million—associated with the damage from the storms. The rest would be split by the state and local governments.
The damages to Santa Cruz County incurred in those 12 days in March, during which the county experienced everything from rockslides in Scotts Valley to flash flooding in Capitola, are estimated at $19 million. According to the county, a total of 43 roads and pieces of infrastructure sustained damage, the most since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. When the costs from the March storms are added up with other natural events in Santa Cruz, including the tsunami, the total fallout from the last year and a half exceeds $45 million.
In order to repair the damage, Santa Cruz County is seeking federal funds from FEMA as well as the Department of Transportation. “There are two different sources of funding for these storm damage repair projects,” explains Melodye Serino, public information officer for Santa Cruz County. Federal money from the Federal Highway Administration flows through CalTrans to local agencies, while federal money from FEMA flows through the California Emergency Management Association.
The county has had mixed success with the two federal sources: it’s secured $5 million from the nation’s highway administration agency, but has been denied money through FEMA.
“This is a very unusual situation, where one branch of the federal government is saying, 'Yes, we can provide disaster relief' and another branch of the federal government is saying, 'Well, we're not sure if we can provide disaster relief,'” Serino says.
According to FEMA, the state is only eligible for the funds if the event is viewed as episodes in a single storm series, instead of separate storms. The distinction may seem minor, but millions of dollars hang in the balance.
In his appeal, Brown argues that the storms were part of “the same parent intense low-pressure system” that set up over the state for two weeks, wreaking havoc from Humboldt to Ventura. He emphasizes the magnitude of the storms by including a memo from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that says atmospheric rivers present in the system dumped precipitation of an amount equal to the water in a hurricane at landfall. In this case the total was “about seven and a half times the average daily flow of water from the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico.”
Does Brown's appeal stand a chance? It's hard to say, even for the experts. “I view them as separate storms, but there really isn’t any gap between them that amounts to a whole lot,” says Maury Roos, chief hydrologist with the California Department of Water Resources.
In a situation where the storms are obviously separate, Roos says, “The storm comes through, then a high pressure system moves in, then you get two or three days of clear weather.” That, he adds, wasn't necessarily the case here. “The sense was that this was a parent storm and it kept feeding off one storm after the other.”
FEMA will be consulting its own experts when re-evaluating the information presented by the governor. There are no estimates on a time frame for a response, says Kelly Hudson, external affairs specialist for Region IX.
“We just need some time to go back over our numbers,” Hudson says. “We may go back and look at situations and take a closer look before we render our decision, but there is no time limit.”
When considered next to disasters that have occurred in other parts of the country this year—flooding of the Mississippi, the Joplin tornado, the wildfires devouring parts of New Mexico and Arizona—it’s tempting to say the storms here were small potatoes. As Capitola councilmember Kirby Nicol was quoted saying in the Santa Cruz Sentinel after FEMA issued its rejection, “We are not Tuscaloosa. We are not Joplin.”
But FEMA insists that funding is not competitive. Decisions, Hudson says, are made on a case-by-case basis. “There is not a competitive process for receiving disaster funding, it's not whoever has the biggest disaster first sort of thing—it doesn't work that way,” Hudson says. “Each disaster is unique in terms of damages and the costs associated with them.”
In Capitola, damage to the city hall, the fire station, police station and other municipal buildings ought to be covered by the city's insurance, according to City Manager Jamie Goldstein. At this point, though, it is not a sure thing.
“The city has been working directly with our insurance providers regarding covering the flood damage. To date, no final determination has been made by our insurance carrier regarding what ultimately will be covered,” Goldstein said through email. “If insurance does not cover specific costs, those expenses would be eligible for FEMA or [state] reimbursement, but only if the disaster declarations are revised.”
Meanwhile, California maintains hope. On July 14, the same day Brown issued his appeal, acting Cal EMA director Michael Dayton toured storm-damaged sites here in Santa Cruz County in order to better advocate for funds on behalf of the county. For now, no news may be good news. Of the chances of winning an appeal, Hudson says: “It's not unheard of, but I won't say it's common.”
