Southland communities look to federal aid for storm recovery, request damage reports
Nearly two weeks after storms including dozens of tornadoes tore through northwest Illinois, south and southwest suburban communities are seeking resident and business property damage reports in hopes of receiving federal aid in their largescale cleanup efforts.
The villages of Flossmoor, Homewood and Thornton partnered with the Cook County Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security to release surveys to determine whether they are eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency individual loan assistance or Small Business Administration disaster loans, according to Homewood village manager Napoleon Haney.
“Any aid to the residents would be critical, would be amazing,” Haney said. “They’re the ones that really need, that could really benefit from direct assistance.”
Cook County Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security Executive Director Ted Berger said Illinois saw at least 27 tornados, many of which touched down in the south and southwest suburbs, July 14 and 15. Thousands of people were left without power for several days and had to clear their properties of fallen trees, broken glass and other debris.
While 99.9% of ComEd customers had their power restored as of Thursday, the effects of extended outages and property damage incurred unexpected costs for residents and businesses as well as municipalities that could be offset by federal disaster funds, Berger said.
“When we reached the point where our communities felt that their needs were secured, there were no unmet needs for public safety support from the county, we were able to shift our attention to the process that we would refer to as recovery,” Berger said.
He said the federal government requires reports on the storm costs and communities’ needs for extra assistance within 30 days, leading them to begin work evaluating the areas that were most affected.
While he said he can’t speak to the likelihood of receiving federal funds for this disaster, Berger said Cook County received $470 million in financial assistance from the FEMA and the Small Business Administration after two major flooding events brought significant damage to Burnham, Calumet City, Dolton, Harvey and South Holland.
Will County also released its own residential survey following significant storm damage in areas such as University Park, New Lenox and Manhattan.
“The survey will support the ongoing efforts of damage assessment teams who are visually inspecting damage to personal property, businesses and public infrastructure throughout the county,” according to the Will County website.
The surveys in Cook County were sent out from individual municipalities, but Berger said he recommends anyone impacted by storms report their damage no matter where they live.
“Whether or not those damage reports will assist in qualifying for additional assistance remains to be seen,” Berger said. “But it’s helpful for municipal leaders to fully understand the impact a natural weather event had on their community.”
Homewood’s Haney said since releasing its form for damage, available until July 31, the response from residents has been overwhelming.
“People are sending everything from a door to my house that was damaged because of the storm all the way to larger, you know, a tree went through the roof or ripped off my electrical lines from the house,” Haney said. “So we’re seeing the response … and we’re excited about it.”
