Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) and Congressman Phil Hare (D-IL) were among nine Members of Congress to send a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) asking them to reverse recently announced rules which would prohibit local levee and drainage districts from using flood fighting funds for cleanup and recovery, instead shifting the burden to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“As you know, levee and drainage districts affected by flooding rely on FEMA to provide financial support for expenses occurred for flood fighting, flood cleanup, debris removal, and dewatering,” the letter reads. “…the Corps is not authorized to reimburse levee and drainage districts for many critical cleanup and recovery activities. We strongly believe that FEMA should continue assisting levee and drainage districts with flood fighting and recovery costs until the policy is reviewed to avoid potential gaps in disaster assistance. 

“This decision was made without carefully considering the consequences to our river communities,” Luetkemeyer said. “We are asking FEMA to rethink this new policy and work with river communities on any future changes to flood assistance.”  

“FEMA acknowledged in a meeting last week that they got this wrong,” Hare said. “We are submitting this letter to formally request that FEMA continues their assistance to flood-ravaged communities along the Mississippi River.”

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