Governor Quinn Requests Federal Assistance for Seven Flood-Ravaged Counties

SPRINGFIELD – August 16, 2010. Governor Pat Quinn today asked President Barack Obama to declare Carroll, Cook, DuPage, Jo Daviess, Ogle, Stephenson and Winnebago counties major disaster areas. If approved, a federal disaster declaration would help people and businesses affected by the July 22-24 flash flooding recover from the disaster by allowing them to apply for grants and loans to assist with storm-related losses.

“When I met with local officials and people affected by the flooding and listened to their stories, it was obvious that federal assistance is needed to help them to recover from this disaster,” said Governor Quinn. “Today, I’m asking President Obama to quickly approve federal assistance for these seven counties so that flood victims can get the assistance they need to move forward in the recovery process.”

During the past two weeks, damage assessment teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and affected communities documented the extent of damage in all seven counties. Governor Quinn’s request for federal assistance is based on the results of those assessments, which determined that nine homes in the seven-county area were destroyed by the storm and 448 suffered major damage.

The federal disaster declaration would provide grants to individuals and households to help with temporary housing, home repairs or replacement and other disaster-related expenses, as well as low-interest SBA loans to residents and businesses.

“While our damage assessments identified more than 450 homes that were heavily damaged or destroyed, thousands more were affected,” said IEMA Interim Director Joe Klinger. “Recovery will be difficult, if not impossible, for many of these people without federal assistance.”

On July 26, Governor Quinn declared 12 counties state disaster areas to ensure affected communities received needed state assistance to recover from the storms.

Additional information about the state’s storm response efforts is available at www.Ready.Illinois.gov.