The Biden Administration has twice turned down Georgia’s request for help after tornadoes devastated neighborhoods in Coweta County in March. The first came several months ago when the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied claims by those hit by the storms. The second came last week when FEMA rejected Georgia’s appeal for individual disaster assistance.
In a letter this week to Gov. Brian Kemp, FEMA wrote “the impact to the individuals and households from this event was not of the severity and magnitude to warrant the designation of the Individual Assistance program.” Such assistance includes financial aid and services for people with uninsured expenses.
Upset with the denial, Georgia leaders — including Kemp, Congressman Drew Ferguson (GA – 03), and the members of the Coweta County state legislative delegation — issued a joint statement Wednesday in response to the rejection.
“FEMA’s July 1st rejection of Georgia’s request for Individual Assistance for Coweta County, following significant damage to the City of Newnan and Coweta County by an EF-4 tornado and other severe weather during March 25th and 26th of 2021, is very disappointing,” the statement said. “After FEMA’s initial denial, we all came together – the State of Georgia, city and county officials, as well as elected representatives and civic groups – to appeal their wrong decision and ensure they fully understood the devastation that families experienced during this traumatic storm. At a time when Congress and the Biden administration are proposing legislation to spend trillions upon trillions of taxpayer dollars, we continue to urge FEMA to do the right thing and grant the state’s request for individual assistance to help Georgians who were impacted and are now trying to rebuild their lives.”
Signing the letter from Coweta County’s delegation were Republicans State Senator Matt Brass, State Representative Lynn Smith, State Representative Philip Singleton and State Representative David Jenkins.
Ferguson also took to social media to express his disappointment. He posted: Apparently, the “severity and magnitude” of this EF-4 tornado doesn’t warrant individual assistance. The Biden Administration has spent trillions of dollars in only six month but can’t approve a request to help real Americans in real need. Deeply disappointed by this decision.
According to reports, the tornado winds reached more than 170 mph at times, travelling through 39 miles of Heard, Coweta and Fayette counties. Reports said the tornado destroyed 70 homes, damaged more than 1,600 others and heavily damaged Newnan High and Atkinson Elementary schools.
In the July 1 denial, FEMA issued a prepared statement stating that Kemp appealed its “original denial of Individual Assistance and FEMA found that its original evaluation was correct.”
“The biggest factor when determining the need for either public or individual assistance is whether the state and local jurisdictions have the resources available to meet the recovery needs,” the agency said in the statement.
