How many homes were damaged in July flooding in 11 towns in St. Clair County? What we know
A preliminary assessment of reported damages from flooding last month in St. Clair County shows that 534 homes had an estimated $8.4 million damages in 11 communities.
And that’s just short of the $9 million threshold for a federal disaster declaration for damages to homes, according to Herb Simmons, director of the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency.
In an effort to see if a federal declaration can be made, assessors from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will tour the flood-stricken neighborhoods this week, beginning on Wednesday.
The federal agency will later decide whether the storm that dumped 8 to 12 inches of rain across the St. Louis metro area on July 26 caused enough damage to meet the $9 million level.
“Hopefully they’ll come in and go along with the other assessments that were done and go back and put all their findings together and let us know what they’re going to be able to do for the citizens,” Simmons said.
If a federal disaster declaration is declared, FEMA would decide what type of assistance can be offered, but Simmons said one possibility could be low-interest loans that would give a homeowner the opportunity to borrow money over a 30-year period at a 1.3% interest rate.
Residents in 11 communities have reported damage to officials as of Tuesday. East St. Louis has the most with 373 addresses with damage. The others include Belleville with 57, Caseyville with 53, Cahokia Heights with 21, Swansea with 13, Fairview Heights with five, O’Fallon and Washington Park with three each, Dupo and Mascoutah with two each and Lebanon with one.
Simmons said this list is still growing as officials get more reports of damage.
A town-by-town breakdown of the value of the damage was not available.
Simmons said the $8.4 million estimate was based on claims reported by residents. Many residents filed claims via the 211 service phone number, he said.
When the FEMA assessors go to neighborhoods this week with state and local officials, residents don’t have to be home.
Simmons said the officials will have pamphlets of information to distribute, and they are expected to be in the field Wednesday to Friday and on Saturday, if necessary. Also, he noted assessors may see damages that were not reported by homeowners.
County and state disaster declarations have already been made for St. Clair County.
The preliminary assessment of $8.4 million was for residential property and is a different process from the damage to governmental buildings.
Simmons said the threshold for a federal declaration for damage to governmental buildings is $21 million.
This story was originally published August 17, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
