By Erin Smith
The Bladen County Board of Commissioners met on Monday and heard an update from Bill Schmidt, a Division Supervisor with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He reported to the Commissioners, FEMA representatives have been in Kelly a lot, however the representatives have not been to Bladenboro and some other areas in the county.
“We wanted to let you know that FEMA is here, in town with boots on the ground,” said Schmidt.
Teams are going out to reach citizens and assist them with registration efforts according to Schmidt. He added, FEMA has also had teams out in the county assessing damage to private infrastructures, homes and working with Bladen County Emergency Management Director Bradley Kinlaw.
“You do have some areas that are worse off than others. We were in Kelly a good deal of the time,” said Schmidt.
He said the goal right now is to get people with damage to register.
“The message has morphed a bit over the years. It used to be register, register, register. Now it is check with your insurance company and then register, register, register. As soon as you register they are going to say ‘Does your insurance cover any part of your loss because we can’t pay things that are already being covered under insurance because that is a duplication of payment,’” said Schmidt.
He explained a lot of the strike teams have now left and operations have transitioned to recovery.
“I know you just went through this a couple of years ago with Matthew. This storm seems to be a little bit worse in most of the areas,” said Schmidt.
He explained the nature of the damage to the county is mostly from flooding. Some of the areas which have been flooded are different from those flooded during Hurricane Matthew. However, other areas which suffered loss and/or damages in Hurricane Matthew, suffered loss again in Hurricane Florence. Schmidt also reported some areas of the county received wind damage.
Commissioner Michael Cogdell alluded to victims who suffered damages in Hurricane Matthew in 2016 still waiting on FEMA’s assistance. Some residents suffered damages from both hurricanes. Cogdell asked, “I have a question, several people have asked me about. At this present time, the mitigation and everything has not been given out. They are asking will they need to reapply. Do they need to move or relocate? Can you give us advice on that?”
“The mitigation piece is the State run piece, so this is pretty much in the State’s hands. They will still register, but whether they are going to get paid damages incurred in Matthew that was reoccurred here, I don’t know. I think they are going to look at that on an individual basis,” said Schmidt.
Ray Britt, Chairman of the Bladen County Board of Commissioners asked about assistance for damaged businesses in Bladenboro. He said, “I have read and heard in the past when you reach, say a little town like Bladenboro, who, in back-to-back, in two years time basically has seen their businesses destroyed. What is the likelihood or the possibility of assisting the town and helping relocate the merchants that are in this small perimeter of the town. I have heard that has been done. What would the procedure be?”
Schmidt replied, “That is additionally part of the mitigation piece and if we were to say, um, if the County or State, I guess the State, actually, were to purchase that property it would become a public access land in perpetuity. So sometimes there is push back from local entities in doing that because you lose the tax base and that you, the County, are responsible for maintaining that in perpetuity. So those are things that we can do, especially privately owned small businesses. Those are things that we can do but, once again, its on an individual basis.”
Schmidt explained FEMA’s goal is to get money in the hands of those who received damages. The mitigation portion is a long-term part of the effort and is the State’s responsibility. Schmidt said currently there are Mitigation Assessment Teams with FEMA assessing the county. There are plans to open a Disaster Recovery Center soon in Bladen County according to Schmidt.
When the center is opened, Schmidt said in addition to FEMA representatives there will be representatives with the Small Business Administration present and Hazard Mitigation
representatives present to try and answer residents’ questions. There will also Spanish speaking representatives on-hand, too.
“Hazard mitigation is a very, very big deal. There is a lot of money funneled that way to try to prevent this from happening again,” said Schmidt. Hazard Mitigation is overseen by the State and encompasses services such as raising houses up on stilts or removal of debris from waterways.
Commissioner Ophelia Munn-Goins asked “Is there a cap on the number of days for the assistance for those staying hotels?”
Schmidt said there is but he was unaware of the exact time frame. He explained the goal is get those residents back into their homes as soon as possible but it is up to the State to extend
those dates, if there is not a reasonable alternative.
Commissioner Munn-Goins also asked about the possibility of mobile units for some who are not able to get back into their homes.
Schmidt replied, “Bradley and I were discussing this today and I am trying to get what is called a MAST Team down here to Kelly tomorrow (Tuesday) to the church down there with Mr. Huff. I have a team there. This MAST Team gathers all the resources in the area. Everybody that we have —Red Cross, the Salvation Army, all of the people that are professionals in transitioning people into housing—they are going to be on the ground there tomorrow (Tuesday).”
Commissioner Charles Ray Peterson asked, “What are you going to do with Bladenboro?”
“What are we going to do in Bladenboro in terms of what?” asked Schmidt.
“People needing housing,” said Peterson.
“Same thing,” said Schmidt.
“You didn’t mention it is the reason I asked,” said Peterson. He added that Schmidt had stated he was going to have a team in Kelly but did not mention Bladenboro.
Schmidt said FEMA has had a MAST team in Clarkton this past week.
“When are you going to Bladenboro?” asked Peterson.
“We’ll find out what the situation is, we’ll be happy to help out there. Do we have a homeless shelter there? Are people living out of there homes? Where are they living now?” asked Schmidt.
“I can’t answer that. I mean, its already a week after this hurricane, and you’ve been to Kelly and Clarkton. I’m not saying that what you are doing in Kelly is not important but Bladenboro was without power and got two feet of rain. They were rescuing people off the house tops. I haven’t heard you say any thing about when you are going to Bladenboro and what you are doing,” said Peterson.
“The DSA teams have been on the streets in Bladenboro. If there were people that they came across that didn’t have any place to live, they would be addressing that. Right now we have
people in shelters and that is why I answered question the way I did. All requests have to come to the federal government from the state,” said Schmidt.
Commissioner Cogdell asked about the possibility of allowing the residents whose homes are too damaged to live in being given housing in Bladen County. Cogdell explained that he had heard of incidents where residents were relocated outside of their home county.
Schmidt said the State has approved housing he did not elaborate the location.
“If there is a particular area or a particular group of people in need of assistance in Bladenboro, Bradley (Kinlaw) has my contact number. Those were the areas we were sent to and that is why I had a ready answer for them,” said Schmidt.
“Well, I don’t why you weren’t sent to Bladenboro,” said Peterson.
“Bladenboro, Clarkton, and Kelly were all circled on the map they got,” said Bradley Kinlaw, Bladen County Emergency Management Director.
“This gentleman is only talking about Bladenboro and Kelly,” said Peterson.
“The MAST team hasn’t made it to Bladenboro yet,” said Kinlaw.
Chairman Britt said he wanted to take a moment to recognize those who worked so hard through the storm.
Britt stated, “I saw something most people can’t even imagine. Mr. Peterson was here every day just like I was from the beginning to the end of every day. The core group coming together in the county with the Sheriff’s Department and Bradley, God bless you, I don’t know how in the world you did what you did with everyone coming at you.
Britt continued, “This isn’t time to complain. It is a time for praise and appreciation of the county employees. The hours that were put in, the spouses that came to work, the people that came from out of state, it was really touching,” said Chairman Britt.
Commissioner Cogdell also echoed Britt’s thoughts. He thanked Kinlaw and all of the county employees for their efforts throughout the storm.
The number to register for FEMA assistance is 1-800-621-3362 or visit DisasterAssitance.gov .
Residents are encouraged to file for both their homeowners insurance as well as flood insurance in addition to registering for FEMA.
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