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August 30, 2007

Bond - Blunt �McCaskill Announce $2.5 Million to Help Missouri Recover from Winter Storm Damage

U.S. Senators Kit Bond, Claire McCaskill and Congressman Roy Blunt today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved $2.5 million in federal dollars to help Southwest Missouri recover from watershed damages due to ice storm that swept across Missouri in January 2007.

"These funds are critical to the communities in Southwest Missouri that were hit-hard by winter storms. While the fight for a federal disaster package was a long one, today's release of much-needed funds show how important this victory was for Missouri," said Bond, the Republican sponsor of the Congress-passed agriculture disaster package

"These federal funds will help Southwest Missouri communities recover from devastating winter storms and be better prepared for natural disasters in the future," McCaskill said. "Protecting Missouri communities from the effects of natural disasters is an important investment to make."

"These funds are another step in the recovery process for those landowners that have streams and creeks important to drainage of the area. Removing limbs, brush and other debris will reduce the threat of erosion and enable landowners to stabilize areas and prevent more damage to forests, pasturelands and stream beds," said Blunt.

In January of this year, severe winter storms and flooding devastated communities in Southwest Missouri. Governor Blunt and President Bush declared a state of disaster for the hard-hit counties. The $2.5 million in federal funds announced today will help Missouri recover from the January storms and flooding.

The new funding will provide both financial and technical assistance to remove logjams and debris from streams and adjacent areas to protect destabilized stream banks. These funds will go directly to the State of Missouri. The counties eligible for the funding include Barry, Dade, Greene, Lawrence, McDonald, Newton, Polk and Webster Counties.

The funds secured through the USDA were provided through the Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP). The EWP was created to assist Federal, State, and local agencies to protect and restore watersheds from damage caused by erosion, floodwater, and sediment, to conserve and develop water and land resources, and solve natural resource and related economic problems on a watershed basis. The program requires local and state funding contributions and provides technical and financial assistance to localities and builds partnerships.

Today's dollars were made possible by the fiscal year 2007 Emergency Supplemental bill, which included a $3 billion agriculture disaster package. The disaster package included language to provide relief to Missouri farmers and ranchers hit hard by the 2007 ice storms and persistent freezing temperatures.

Recognizing the severity of the storm, Bond, McCaskill, Blunt and other members of the Congressional delegation requested expedited approval of Governor Blunt's request for disaster assistance in a letter to the President immediately following the storm.