Joint preliminary damage assessments will begin Wednesday morning for seven counties in Southern and Central Indiana that sustained damage from severe storms and flash flooding that began August 4.

Teams will include the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), the Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS) and local emergency management agency representatives. This is step 5 of the 8 steps in the declaration process (see list below). The counties are Brown, Clark, Floyd, Jackson, Jennings, Marion, Ripley and Rush.  Assessments will begin in Clarke and Floyd counties. Teams will move to other counties as quickly as possible, while accurately assessing the scope of damage.

The joint assessments are used to determine the magnitude and impact of damage. The results will be used to determine if federal assistance should be requested.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

The Declaration Process
When a disaster occurs, the following steps are followed:

Step 1. Local emergency and public works personnel, volunteers, humanitarian organizations, and other private interest groups provide emergency assistance required to meet immediate human needs and restore essential services vital to public health and safety.

Step 2. At the same time, preliminary damage and impact information is gathered by local government and emergency officials and conveyed to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security Emergency Operation Center.

Step 3. If necessary, the Governor declares a state of emergency and invokes the state's emergency plan to augment individual and public needs as required, including the use of the National Guard's military resources.

Step 4. When the state determines that the recovery appears to be beyond these combined resources, a request for FEMA to conduct a preliminary damage assessment is made.

Step 5. FEMA personnel from the regional office responsible for the area where the disaster occurred are deployed and join state and local representatives to conduct joint damage assessments and submit the results to the Governor's office.

Step 6. If the state judges that this survey data indicates full recovery is beyond available capabilities, the Governor submits a written request to the President through FEMA's regional office asking that federal aid be provided under a major disaster or emergency declaration.

Step 7. Following a FEMA regional and national office review of the request and findings of the joint damage survey, the Agency's Director provides the President with an analysis of the disaster conditions and a recommendation course of action.

Step 8. From this information the President declares a major disaster or emergency exists in the state, or FEMA advises the Governor of a denial of the request.

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