Cleanup Begins as Flooded NW Counties Declared Disaster Areas  12/18/07

Roads have reopened and power has been restored in areas of Washington and Oregon that suffered major flooding this month in the wake of back-to-back storms that blew in from the Pacific Ocean. New the cleanup is getting under way. The White House declared flooded counties in both states as disaster areas, clearing the way for federal aid, but state leaders who toured flood zones said much more will be need to be done.

The presidential declaration triggers a variety of federal assistance including grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster. U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following severe storms, landslides, and mudslides.

NW Storm: Insurance Claims As First Step  12/11/07

In storm-ravaged parts of the North- west, home and business owners are filing insurance claims — a process, as with Katrina, that could be compli- cated by whether severe winds or floods did the damage.

     “The damage is pretty bad,” said Jerry Davies, spokesman for Farmers Insurance Group of Companies. “We’ve been on top of it and right now we’re looking pretty good.”
     Parts of Oregon and Washington saw severe flooding, multiple deaths, lost power and communications and other major damage. Homeowners insurance covers most wind damage. But coverage from flooding, earthquakes or landslides typically require separate policies such as the National Flood Insurance Program.
     Although some mortgage companies require people to carry flood insurance if they live in a high-risk area, many do not have it. Federal officials say many people fail to insure against flooding even though it is the top natural disaster for the area.
     “You don’t need to live in a flood plain to have flood insurance,” said Mike Howard, director of external affairs for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska.
     FEMA says there are more than 6,000 flood insurance policies, covering more than $1 billion, in the five Oregon counties President Bush declared as a federal disaster

After Two Storms: Oregon town prepares for the Next  12/17/07

After a major flood 11 years ago and an even more expansive flood two weeks ago, it has dawned on the people of Vernonia, a former mill town, that they must rebuild with this question in mind: What is the depth going to be next time?

Nearly a foot of rain caused floodwaters from two streams to rise within a matter of hours, flooding about 300 homes, schools, temporarily closing businesses, and raising uncertainty about the future of the community.

For Gordon Smith, co-owner of the town's grocery, the answer to the question of how deep next time is 4 feet.  In 1996, his Sentry Supermarket stood in 14 inches of water. Two weeks ago, he said, it had 24 inches and damaged at least $100,000 in goods.  Relocating is not an option as a new building would be equivalent to a year's receipts.

So his associates and he developed a design with one-way gates in the drains gates and sandbags at the entrances, and pumps in the storeroom to eject water that seeps into the concrete block structure.  The cost of that is $75,000 and provides protection to 4 feet of water.