El Paso County officials say federal funding is necessary for repairs following June storms
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - Tuesday, El Paso County and the City of Colorado Springs announced the approval of a disaster declaration resolution. Officials are now working on a repair plan.
An Initial Damage Assessment (IDA) found the total reported damage is roughly $19,563, 831. Officials said the local disaster declaration helps fill an urgent need for resources and funding.
Wednesday, county and city officials held a press conference to go over the disaster declaration, damage sustained to public infrastructure, and the process moving forward to secure federal funding.
According to Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolde, three areas were hit the hardest during the storms; south of Douglas, east of Fork Sand Creek, and south of the Colorado Springs Airport.
El Paso County still has 13 roads closed. That's down from the 33 that were first blocked off after the rain storms that happened between June 22 and June 33.
"Our predominate damage was done in Peyton highway, and also JD Johnson and we lost around $10,000 to $11,000 tons of material off of that road those areas were the hardest hit as far as what's going to take us the longest to recover from," said Kevin Mastin, Executive Director of Public Works in El Paso County.
Mastin added that alternate route signage is another major struggle for the department.
"We've had two vehicles that launched off of areas that were washed out, one vehicle destroyed four of our new culverts that we were installing, another vehicle drove off and the person left, a person just totally disregarded that the road was closed and buried their truck in the middle of our work site and closed us down for two hours while we got the truck removed," said Mastin.
In the last few weeks, county officials said they've been in tight contact with representatives from FEMA in Colorado.
"We will do our best to get the most critical things just like in any emergency you triage what needs to be done quickly most expediently and we will do our best to get that done," said Cami Bremer, El Paso County Commissioner.
On Wednesday, city and county leaders say they do not have a timeline as to when the reconstruction of the roads will be finalized but said there are working hard to speed up the process.
The collaboration between the city, county, and state is to look at eligibility for funds to repair critical infrastructure. That begins on the local level by conducting initial damage assessments to look at the nature and extent of the damage. Then local officials ask the state and federal partners to come in and verify that damage and look at eligibility for federal reimbursement and funding.
That is all through a process called a joint preliminary damage assessment.
Starting Thursday, FEMA and the State of Colorado will be in El Paso County in three teams touring facilities to do the joint preliminary damage assessment.
To receive a disaster declaration for public assistance the state must have damage assessments that reach a statewide capita - or a capital indicator. Based on initial damage assessments, officials believe the county has met those requirements.
Officials are still confirming the eligibility based on the requirements - so it's unclear at this time when the infrastructure will be completely repaired.
At this time - nothing has been committed by the state or FEMA beyond doing the preliminary damage assessment Thursday.
However, that doesn't slow the county. By declaring a local disaster declaration eligibility for reimbursement for resources will be available through the FEMA process.
Watch the press conference below:
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story states FEMA was providing $19 million in funding to El Paso County - this is incorrect. KRDO has updated this article and made edits to reflect the accuracy of this story and regrets the mistake.
