Hamilton County residents will not receive FEMA funding for recent storm damage

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) – The flood damage seen across Hamilton County from last months downpour is still evident.

For one resident, she says the water run off issues have forced her family to pack up and stay in hotels 7 times, with the latest happening last month.

She says the news about not getting federal funding means yet again she’s forked over thousands with no relief.

Although the damage estimate of Hamilton County met the $1.3 million threshold at FEMA, it didn’t meet the $9.2 million damage threshold for the state of Tennessee.

With another storm headed for the coast, the local flooding problems may return.

TEAM spokesman Dean Flener says the state itself, doesn’t have funding to assist local communities, it comes from FEMA in Washington.

“It was a disaster it was a disaster it can’t be qualified for anything else but a disaster. You can’t start water it’s coming in. All of those residents in Soddy Daisy including myself will not receive any funds from FEMA,” says Yokita McGraw.

Hamilton County Residents like McGraw are left to clean up the mess left behind after last months downpour and they learned they will not receive FEMA funding.

McGraw says the water came into her home destroying many of their possessions that were on the bottom floor, forcing her to remove the flooring and try to eliminate the humidity that force painting and light fixtures from the walls.

She says if they can’t get funding from the state or government, she hopes the county finds a way to help the dozen of homeowners like her.

McGraw says, “it will save us money time effort and energy and a lot of stress and a lot of displacement like I said we have to go and stay in a hotel every time it floods.
Any type of private funding can be given to us to get this problem resolved we would appreciate it.”

The Red Cross helped with placing her family in stable living situations until the water receded for the county to assess the damage.

“A lot of stress on us as a family to always have to pack up and go and then have to face the consequences of what happened when we get back home,” says McGraw.

McGraw says the red cross helped her family and just hopes that this community isn’t in this same position ever again.

“We are constantly in disaster… We went from Florence to the floods and now we are pairing preparing for hurricane Michael and we are constantly looking for volunteers to help us with response,” says Julia Wright, Executive Director for the Red Cross.