DELAWARE, Ohio — The Federal Emergency Management Agency arrived in central Ohio on Tuesday to get a look at the damage done by the March 14 tornadoes.
There are six FEMA teams doing damage assessments across 11 counties in the state. These assessments help give the state and federal government an idea of what is still needed in terms of assistance.
"We come in, with the Small Business Administration, assess the damage and from there we go on and if the state wants to handle the disaster on their own, they can do that. If they think federal assistance, they can request assistance from the government,” said Leo Skinner, Public Affairs for FEMA. “If a disaster is declared, FEMA comes in with grants or loans, whatever that person may qualify for.”
Once the assessment is completed in the coming days, it will be up to the state to decide if it wants to ask FEMA and the federal government for assistance.
It is also up to the state to ask FEMA to come in the first place, explaining their arrival almost two weeks after the storms.
“It all starts locally. Once it gets to the state level, and the state was involved early on during the response effort. The state takes a look at it and determines if they want to do an damage assessment with FEMA,” Skinner said.
These assessments are being done hand in hand with Ohio EMA as well.
“We’re out there, we’re working and getting our damage assessments done so we can help people get back on their feet,” said Sandy Mackey, Public Affairs Chief for Ohio EMA.
Skinner said it is still too early to say how expensive this round of storms was.