Localized Flashfloods in Lake Zurich Don’t Meet Federal Aid Threshold

The floodwaters that swept into Lake Zurich homes left behind broken windows, damaged homes and broken lives.

The June 26 storm dumped 5 to7 inches of rain in a six-hour period, according to the Lake County Emergency Management Office’s rain gages. A Lake Zurich rain gage reported 5.63 inches from the narrow band of rain, which caused the localized flooding.

Families, many if not most of who do not have flood insurance, are left on their own in terms of getting any Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) aid to help with the flood recovery.

Lake Zurich Village President Tom Poynton declared a state of emergency on that date. The declaration is part of a process that kicks in state and federal aid assistance. However, the declaration of emergency stopped at the local level because officials found the localized flashfloods did not meet federal assistance guidelines.

“There are thresholds spelled out in federal disaster laws,” said Kent McKenzie, coordinator of the Lake County Office of Emergency Management.

Typically, the county would not proclaim a state of disaster until a significant amount of the county’s resources are committed, he said. While Lake County did deploy county resources in Lake Zurich and other communities, it wasn’t to the point where the county’s resources were exhausted, he said.

Another legal requirement deals with the cost of property loss, labor and other expenditures.  Those costs need to total a certain amount, usually in the millions, McKenzie said. The June 26 flashflood emergency is likely to total hundreds of thousands of dollars but below the required legal threshold, he said.

“We don’t take the process of proclaiming a disaster lightly,” he said. “I think we would all want to see federal disaster resources, but we don’t come anywhere close to meeting the legal requirements,” McKenzie said.

A similar situation occurred when a tornado hit Harrisburg, Il., in last year, he said. It was an obvious disaster, but ”it didn’t meet the federal disaster law,” he said

Lake County Board President Aaron Lawlor is the person who can declare a countywide emergency, based on advice from the Lake County Emergency Management Agency.

“We had that big flood in mid-April, we thought we would get close to the thresholds that triggers the declaration,” Lawlor said. The April 18 flooding caused widespread damage that until recently was still being assessed by FEMA, which had set up assistance centers in the county.

Lake County was recently approved for federal assistance, which applies to local government, nonprofits like the Red Cross and individuals, Lawlor said. Villages can get reimbursements, about 75 percent, for the expenses of the flooding. Individuals can get low interest loans or, in some cases, grants.

The June 26 flooding was concentrated in the southwest portion of the county While serious and devastating, the latest flooding event was not on the magnitude of the April floods, Lawlor said.

A reason Lake Zurich is collecting information about damaged property to make the case for any assistance that may be available to residents, businesses and the village, McKenzie said.

Lake Zurich’s website does offer information about the Illinois Disaster Recovery Program which offers low interest loans as people wait for insurance settlements or other aid programs to take affect, the site states.

While FEMA assistance is not available, “there are other federal programs that could be triggered," McKenzie said. “We don’t think of it as an exercise in futility, we are still trying to find resources for residents and the community.”