This kind of scene was all too familiar across Central Illinois and Southern Illinois Dec. 29 in the aftermath of a winter ice storm driven by high winds. Tree and power line damage as in addition to flooding was widespread. (Photo from ready.Illinois.gov)

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied the state of Illinois’ request for federal assistance to help people, businesses and local governments in several Illinois counties recover from flooding.

The state was notified of the decision on March 10.

FEMA Administrator W. Craig Fugate said the damage from the floods and severe storms “was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state, affected local governments, and voluntary agencies.”

On Feb. 26, the state submitted a request for two types of federal assistance: Individual Assistance to help people and businesses recover and Public Assistance to provide reimbursement to local governments for some of their disaster-related expenses. Both forms of federal assistance were denied.

“This is yet another example of how the federal government’s population-based threshold for determining assistance works against states with large metropolitan areas,” said James K. Joseph, director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.  “We will be reaching out to our emergency management partners in the affected counties to see if there is any additional information that would support an appeal of the denial of either type of assistance.”

Counties included in the state’s request for federal assistance for people and businesses were Alexander, Christian, Clinton, Douglas, Iroquois, Jersey, Madison, Randolph, Sangamon and St. Clair. Counties included in the state’s request for federal assistance for local governments were Alexander, Bureau, Calhoun, Cass, Cumberland, Jackson, Jersey, Madison, Menard, Monroe, Morgan, Moultrie, Pike, Randolph, St. Clair and Vermilion.

FEMA denies state’s request on flood assistance