As Boscobel residents evaluate thousands in storm damage after the strongest tornado in Wisconsin since 2008, and homeowners in Concord continue rebuilding after July 28’s EF1 tornado, public funding options may be limited for individuals and local governments with damage left uninsured.
There might be some state options for damage to public infrastructure and property. But federal assistance–and any kind of taxpayer-funded assistance to individuals themselves–is unlikely based on the level of damages so far.
Wisconsin Disaster Fund
There’s a state funding option for public lands and infrastructure when a state-level emergency has been declared and certain damage thresholds of costs are met. Limited in scope, the Wisconsin Disaster Fund can cover up to 70% of eligible expenses for municipalities and local governments if the emergency meets specific requirements. The money, typically used for severe storm aftermath, can only be used by municipalities for debris clearance, road and bridge repairs, and protective measures like sandbagging against floodwater.
Jefferson County emergency management director Donna Haugom says the township of Concord is trying to get some of that funding for any public damage from late July’s tornado. But there’s not much available in terms of assistance for individuals–who she says are often not getting things like debris cleanup covered by insurance.
“There is no state or federal funding available for individuals, especially individuals who have insurance on their homes. This is not big enough for federal funding, and unfortunately it’s not big enough for state funding,” Haugom explained.
Andrew Beckett with Wisconsin Emergency Management said several local governments have so far started the process to apply for some funding from the WDF. However, estimates that include public damage and uninsured private damage appear unlikely to meet the federal threshold for dollars from a different fund–FEMA–for both the July 28 storms and the damage in Boscobel.
“Damage assessments are ongoing for the storms that occurred over the weekend. So far, only a few counties have reported significant damages for both public infrastructure and private property. These numbers also tend to fluctuate greatly at this stage of the process,” Beckett explained, noting that the WDF is one of several funding options available for disaster situations that affect public infrastructure.
“Overall, the uninsured damages reported to date would likely not meet the criteria for the state to request federal assistance from FEMA for individuals or public infrastructure.”
Volunteers, community stepping up
In Jefferson County, the Lions Club instead is working to put together assistance and apply for a grant to help property owners. Some hit particularly hard, like the Zastrow family whose 15–year-old farm was largely flattened, have turned to online fundraising instead. To date, they’ve raised just over a third of the $150,000 they’re asking for through a GoFundMe page.
“It’s hard to take it all in and just look at it like, ‘This couldn’t possibly have happened’,” Dave Zastrow told News 3 Now in the aftermath of the July 28 tornado.
Lloyd Zastrow said on Monday that to date, about 95% of the cleanup has now been finished through the extensive help of community members, churches, private organizations and businesses, his grandson’s soccer team, and–sometimes–just people stopping on the side of the road to help.
“Two of the houses on the property are condemned, and the barn was completely flattened,” Rachel Zastrow wrote on the GoFundMe page. “Insurance still has to assess the damage, but nobody is allowed in the house due to instability. There is no way of knowing if they will be able to retrieve their personal belongings. All of the vehicles were damaged, if not totaled.”
Lloyd said Monday that they’re now still in a waiting process to hear from insurance about assessed damages.
Unmet thresholds
Gov. Evers did declare a state of emergency in the aftermath of the storms, which opened the way for resources like the National Guard to be used if needed. But a federally-declared disaster would be required before federal funding from agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency could be unlocked for public entities–and only a disaster declared by the president could potentially unlock funding for individuals.
“Generally, state and federal disaster assistance is based on the scale of the disaster: based on impact, based on damage, based on number of people affected,” public information officer Jay McLellan with Dane County Emergency Management explained. “From what Dane County saw ten days ago, we were nowhere close.”
Disaster declarations and the funding formulas that follow them depend on complex equations that include a variety of factors, including how much the damage costs when compared to population in a particular region. For example, McLellan said that this year’s formula for Dane County would have to involve a threshold of $3.89 in damage when spread across each person in the county–or more than $2 million in damage to public infrastructure. (No disaster was declared for the wind and tornado damage in Cross Plains and Verona at the end of July.)
That $3.89 formula is also the per-capital equation a local jurisdiction would need to meet to qualify for state funding through the WDF, Beckett said in an email, as well as an emergency or disaster declaration.
But for home and property owners like the Zastrows, the damage levels mean their best option for help is likely directly from their neighbors.
“I just think that within Wisconsin, whenever we have any kind of damages, we get a lot of people coming together,” Haugom said.
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