Funds available for 2008 tornado victims

Money is available now for people affected by the May 10, 2008 tornado.

The Newton County Commission first got word that their repeat applications were successful on June 17 of last year. The a $1.29 million grant came more than a year after the storm that left damage from one end of the county to the other.

When they first received word of the grant, commissioners were ecstatic hoping that more than 60 families affected by the storm would be able to find some relief, but so far only 20 applications have been submitted.

There are three types of aid available through the Newton County Storm Disaster Recovery Project, said Newton County Emergency Management Director Gary Roark. A homeownership assistance program offers up to $10,000 for down payment and closing costs for tornado victims purchasing a home inside the county. A home rehabilitation portion of the grant offers up to $20,000 for repairs on the residence. A new home construction program offers up to $40,000 for rebuilding assistance at the same location, which can go toward a modular or a manufactured unit or qualified construction.

“It’s been very slow,” Roark said. “I wanted it to happen fast, but it’s not been going as fast as we would like to see it.”

Because the aid process only began last fall and the tornado happened more than a year earlier, the numbers now are way down on the number of people who need help, Roark said. Others have been able to get what they needed short-term, but their repairs are still unfinished.

The Community Development Block Grant — funded through the Missouri Economic Development Commission — is administered by the Harry S. Truman Coordinating Council.

“I know there’s still people out there who had damage in that storm and have not applied, especially over around Granby and Newtonia and over in there,” said Bud Rogers, home inspector with Harry. S. Truman. “We see a lot of them still sitting around that don’t have siding on them yet, maybe they’ve run out of money, but you hate to just go knock on their door and say, ‘are you out of money?’”

The grants are intended for low to moderate income families who were uninsured or did not have sufficient insurance to finish repairs on their home. Using more than one grant program some of the affected families have been able to piece together money to get them close to what they need for their home. A three-person family could make up to $34,650 and be accepted into the program. A one-person household could make up to $26,950 annually. Another grant, a Social Services Block Grant through the state can also help some families.

“Most of the people we’re dealing with now did not have any insurance,” Roark said.

Renters who lost their home, Rogers said, should also call for help.

The grant is specific to the May 2008 tornado.

“We really would like for more folks to come in or at least call us and talk to us about it,” Rogers said.

Work for homes in the program will start bidding next week.

Once all the affected families have been contacted and applications quit coming in the county hopes to get any leftover money re-appropriated for debris cleanup around the county. In an effort to get word to people affected by the storm’s path Roark and other volunteers have been going door-to-door with pamphlets about the program.

“There is no specific cutoff date,” Roark said. “What we’re doing is we’re making sure that we get as many people as possible.”

With the debris cleanup they can move off the county roads and onto private property. Roark expects that the county would be divided into sectors and start work in each of those.

“You can go out and drive down Jute Road or over toward Granby and you can see places that look today just like they did the day after the tornado except there’s weeds around it,” he said. “Some were just abandoned, basically. There’s others where people got their home repaired and rebuilt but they’ve still got a lot of debris laying around on their property.

“It’s gonna be a scar there forever unless we get it cleaned up.”

For more information call the Harry S. Truman Coordinating Council at 1-800-788-3515,