Cameron County seeks reimbursement after storms

Cameron County officials have begun to seek federal reimbursements following President Barack Obama’s declaration of the county and other parts of the state as disaster areas because of Hurricane Alex.

The president’s announcement on Wednesday means the county can apply for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, for money spent on preparation and recovery efforts related to Alex, said Robert Lopez, the county’s damage assessment officer.

“It’s a big sigh of relief,” Lopez said. “It means the county can now actually reach out to the state of Texas and the Texas Division of Emergency Management and to FEMA in hopes that they will reimburse all the expenditures. ...”

Hurricane Alex made landfall June 30 in northern Mexico, bringing major flooding to South Texas. Flooding in some cities has required a number of residents to evacuate their homes.

Counties that were declared disaster areas are Cameron, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Maverick, Starr, Val Verde, Webb and Zapata. The designation means that residents, governments and nonprofit groups can apply for federal money or assistance from the government.

Cameron County’s estimated damage is about $650,000, but the total for the county and cities within the county is close to $4 million, Lopez said. He said the county is working on reimbursement requests for the cities, too, as requested by state officials.

County officials are working on preparing project worksheets that show how much money the county paid out during Hurricane Alex, Lopez said.

“If I am claiming $100,000 of overtime, I can write it on the project worksheet, but I need to provide FEMA with basically all the timesheets,” Lopez said.

Meanwhile, the county is still awaiting some $1.2 million in reimbursements from FEMA for expenses from Hurricane Dolly in 2008. Cameron County already received the bulk of about $18 million in reimbursement from Dolly but part of the amount is still outstanding.

Officials aren’t sure why it has taken the state so long to reimburse the funds.

“I think (Hurricane) Ike kind of took the focus off of Dolly and maybe we are having to take a small back seat to Hurricane Ike,” County Judge Carlos H. Cascos said.

lmartinez@brownsvilleherald.com