Six more counties added to federal disaster list

By Aaron Gould Sheinin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Six more Georgia counties were declared disaster areas late Friday, bringing the number of counties eligible for federal assistance to 14 following this week’s devastating storms.

And Georgians are responding. The Federal Emergency Management Administration said that more than 3,600 residents and business owners had already applied for federal assistance, a figure released when fewer counties were on the list.

Added late Friday were Catoosa, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale counties. They join Carroll, Chattooga, Cherokee, Cobb, Douglas, Paulding, Stephens and Walker counties on the list of those eligible for federal aid. And more counties could be added.

The news was a welcome relief for many in the newly added counties, including DeKalb County Commissioner Lee May, who earlier Friday held a news conference where he called on President Obama to add his county to the list. “This is definitely a breath of fresh air for the citizens of DeKalb County,” said May, who himself could be seeking federal assistance after water flooded the first floor of his home near the Yellow River. “The victims of these recent floods are in need of immediate help and this disaster declaration will bring much needed help.”

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Georgia) had also called on Obama to expand the disaster list. “I’m pleased, but not surprised that the president did the right thing.”

Of the 17 counties that Gov. Sonny Perdue originally asked to be declared federal disaster areas, only Clayton, Crawford and Forsyth counties have yet to been cleared for federal assistance.

Only those residents and businesses owners in the 14 counties on the disaster list are eligible for immediate federal assistance.

“Now, even more Georgia families will have access to much-needed financial assistance that will help them on their road to recovery,” Perdue, who is in Panama on a trade mission, said in a statement.

Vice President Joe Biden was in Georgia on Friday to see destruction from the floods, which claimed nine lives and caused more than $250 million in damage.

Biden, who was in the state for about four hours, said he was with a woman inside the American Red Cross shelter in Marietta who lost her home and wasn’t sure what help was coming.

This wasn’t Hurricane Katrina, Biden said the woman told him.

“The truth of the matter,” Biden said, “is for someone who lost their home, it is Katrina. For some in this shelter, it is Katrina.”

“We will move and have FEMA people on the ground here through the weekend and next week until this recovery is well on its way,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.

And with up to three inches of rain expected in parts of North Georgia this weekend, the damage could spread. The Atlanta area could see 1 to 2 inches of rain over the weekend. Forecasters warn that soil still saturated from last weekend’s heavy rain will likely run off into creeks and streams, which could lead to rapidly rising water.

U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, both Georgia Republicans, joined Biden for the tour Friday, and echoed the others in asking that the disaster area be expanded.

Still, Isakson and Chambliss praised the Obama administration’s response.

“This administration responded in a very magnificent way and in a very quick way,” Chambliss said at the Cobb Civic Center shelter.

Also Friday, FEMA opened a a disaster recovery center in Austell, one of the hardest hit areas of the state. People who suffered losses can get in-person assistance and speak with specialists skilled in disaster recovery. The center, open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week, is at The Threadmill, 5000 Austell/Powder Springs Road, Suite 120.

David Austin, chairman of the Paulding County Commission, said that FEMA representatives will also be in his county some time next week to meet with affected residents at the county senior community center, 54 Industrial Way North, in Dallas.

In other developments Friday:

● Cherokee County officials estimated damage there at $40.5 million, a figure expected to increase. Ninety-three businesses and 265 homes were destroyed or damaged, with more than half of the damage coming in the city of Woodstock.

A Red Cross shelter has opened at the county’s South Annex recreation center.

● Atlanta officials have increased their estimate to 500 homes and businesses damaged in the storms. Damage is estimated to be at least $61 million.

Some roads across the region remain closed.

● About a dozen roads and bridges in unincorporated Cobb County are closed, down from about 180 earlier this week.

Several roads in Austell are still closed from the floods. And Macland Road at Florence Road, northwest of Powder Springs, was damaged too, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation.

In Douglas County, roads are closed all over the map, but the main thoroughfares, Highway 5, Highway 92 and Thornton Road remain open, said Douglas County Assistant Communications Director T. J. Jaglinski.

“There are just random roads all over the place,” he said. “It’s basically a maze.”

There were some signs Friday that things are returning to normal. Officials in Paulding and Douglas counties said schools there will reopen on Monday.

-- Staff writers Ralph Ellis, Mike Morris, Mary Lou Pickel, Eric Stirgus and Steve Visser, and correspondent Laura Berrios contributed to this report.