By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The floodwaters may have receded months ago, but the small community of Natoma is still trying to address the devastation that May flooding brought.
Mayor Rick Dunlap said the recovery process has been slow.
That process has been made more difficult by a lack of recovery funds.
Ryan Cook, city treasurer, said the not enough people nor structures were affected by the flood to qualify for Federal Emergency Management Agency relief funds.
Dunlap and Dale Eickhoff, city council president, are both on the fire department and helped with evacuations on the day of the flood.
"Even though it affected a third of our community, it did not qualify because what it destroyed did not meet the threshold that FEMA has today," Eickhoff said.
Cook said the community did qualify for Small Business Administration funds. The community also received thousands in private donations. ICT Great Plains, a company that owns an electric transmission line outside of Natoma, donated $12,000 to the Community recovery fund on Monday.
The Osborne Community Foundation donated $5,000 to match local funds that had already been raised.
Rep. Troy Waymaster, R-Bunker Hill, and Sen. Elaine Bowers, R-Concordia, were both in Natmoa Monday for the donation presentations.
"When I was on the phone with the governor when this all happened, the [FEMA] threshold was $4.4 million. Gov. Kelly said they won't hit that threshold for FEMA to respond," Waymaster said. "It is unfortunate and should not be that way.
"If there is an emergency happening, regardless of what the dollar amount is, FEMA should react to it. In '93, they didn't have that threshold. Why do they have it now?"
Eickhoff said, "A town the size of Natoma has a huge loss to them, and it doesn't qualify. It was a huge loss none the same. In comparison to anyone else, we had a disaster, yet it doesn't meet their criteria."
Dunlap said the full damage to the community is yet to be seen. Officials had to let the water table go down in order to start assessing the damage to the city's water and sewer systems.
The floodwaters overran the city's water plant, and the city was on a boil water advisory for a time.
City sidewalks and streets were also damaged by the rushing water.
Most of the people who had homes that were heavily damaged by the flood have moved into other homes in the area.
"I think a lot of people were thinking they'd receive a check to rebuild, and that is not how this works," Dunlap said.
The Post Office, which was damaged in the flood, remains closed. Repairs included asbestos removal. A date for reopening the building has not yet been set.
"Over here on First Street and the next one over you could see the pavement, and then six minutes later, you couldn't see it," he said. "It had risen 2 feet that fast."
Local officials, including Dunlap and Eickhoff, tried to coordinate rescue efforts. The water came up so fast that many people were stranded in their homes and had to be rescued.
The water was too swift for boats, and eventually, rescue crews had to use a high loader to navigate the water.
"That was our whole main concern the first day was getting people out, and it took most of the day," Dunlap said.