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Estimated storm damage in Johnson County shy of $6 million

Posted at 2:19 PM, Aug 25, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-25 18:45:15-04

JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. - Johnson County's damage assessments are in. Following two severe storms that created havoc in the metro area in July, the county declared a local disaster. 

This week, the county took another step forward in the process of receiving financial help. 

“FEMA took measurements and numerous pictures trying to document what happened,” said Trent Pittman, Johnson County Emergency Management.

Last week,the Federal Emergency Management Agency, along with the state of Kansas toured the damaged locations. 

“FEMA and the state are putting a report together right now and they’re reviewing it at the state level,” said Pittman.  

The threshold for Johnson County to receive federal funding was $1.9 million. After submitting estimates earlier this week, the county more than tripled that amount, sitting just shy of $6 million.  

“Johnson County Parks and Rec had the highest individual dollar amount of damages that was submitted to us,” said Pittman.  

Johnson County Parks and Recreation totaled more than $1 million in damages.

“Some of the most expensive damage we had was to the park systems where stream banks had washed away,” said Pittman.  

Blue River Streamway Park was one area that lost an entire bridge and had damage to the trail system. Although, the county's recovery efforts have been underway.  

“Repaving of some trails, some new bridges, some bridge replacements along those trails," said Pittman. 

 Full repairs could take up to weeks to complete. Pittman said cities are relying on that reimbursement. 

“Some of these totals are very high and it’s a little bit of a challenge for some of the jurisdictions to meet those financial requirements, so that’s really what we’re hoping for with some of the federal reimbursement,” said Pittman.  

Within the next five days, Pittman said they should know whether or not the governor will request a major disaster declaration, moving the process forward. 

They're currently assessing the new damage and collecting estimates  to see whether or not they'll need to file for federal assistance a second time.