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Obama Grants Disaster-Area Status to Territory

Federal funds are being made available to help with local post-Earl recovery efforts, thanks to a major disaster declaration from President Barack Obama.
Obama declared the territory a major disaster area Wednesday, allowing the government and certain non-profits to apply for federal Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding to help complete emergency work or repair/replace hurricane-damaged facilities territory-wide, Government House announced Wednesday.
Post-hurricane assessments compiled by the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency — which included measuring how much debris was gathered and left at the landfills — showed that the territory far exceeded the minimum $1 million threshold needed to obtain the presidential declaration. Earl is estimated to have caused more than $2.5 million worth of damage to the local infrastructure, according to the reports.
The hurricane’s tropical storm force winds "uprooted large trees and scattered debris onto major thoroughfares, rendering them impassable," Gov. John deJongh Jr. recently wrote in his request for the disaster declaration. "To compound this problem, major roadways, along with culverts and guts, were flooded by torrential rains. Throughout the territory, fallen trees and tree limbs stripped power lines and pulled poles from grounds softened by the downpours associated with the system."
St. Thomas sustained the most significant damage to its electrical systems overall, forcing power outages for several days, deJongh continued.
At a meeting, V.I. Water and Power Authority officials said that both poles and lines took a hit during the storm, causing nearly $3 million worth of damage. The immediate priority was to get the power back on, so quick fixes were made in some areas, but crews still have to go back around and finish the work, they said.
The territory’s request for a declaration had to be reviewed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency before it was submitted to the president for approval. A FEMA team is expected to arrive in the territory this week to set up a joint field office to begin working with the local agencies in documenting expenses, the release said.
Procedures for applying for the public assistance funds will be explained at a series of territory-wide meetings, for which the times and locations will soon be announced.

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