Clayton County was excluded from the federal disaster aid money slated for the Mother's Day tornados, and some want to know why.

"Why wasn't Clayton included?" tornado victim Mark Freeman asked.

Louie Favorite/AJC (ENLARGE)

Mark Freeman and his fiance, Monique Jordan, behind their tornado damaged home in Ellenwood on May 12, 2008.

The home Freeman bought five years ago was demolished, and while his homeowners insurance company is picking up the loss of the house, it is refusing to cover his personal belongings or his costs for temporary housing.

"If the federal government did declare this a disaster area, I could get help," the 41-year-old Ellenwood man said.

President George Bush on Friday declared 14 Georgia counties struck by the May 11 storms disaster areas, making them eligible for federal aid. But Clayton was among nine counties, including Rockdale and Henry in the metro Atlanta area, that didn't make the list.

Disaster relief funds — public aid for governments struggling to pay emergency workers and repair infrastructure, and individual aid for uninsured residents — will go to Bibb, Carroll, Crawford, Douglas, Emanuel, Glen, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Laurens, McIntosh, Treutland, Twiggs and Wilkinson counties.

Clayton County Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell said Saturday that he thought there was still a chance Clayton could get federal aid.

"We are hopeful to be added to the list," Bell said. "Our citizens have had significant damage to be included."

Clayton is considered one of the hardest-hit areas, with more than 100 homes damaged, but Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) spokesman Buzz Weiss said too much of its damage was insured to warrant federal relief funding.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency requires that total uninsured losses equal $3.11 per capita — just over $3 for each resident — for a county to qualify for disaster assistance.

Based on 2007 Census numbers for Clayton, uninsured damage would had to total nearly $850,000 to get federal aid. The county's uninsured losses, though, were calculated to be just under $22,000 — the equivalent of 8 cents per person. "They weren't even in the ballpark," Weiss said.

County Commissioner Sonna Singleton (District 1) saw exclusion from the federal relief funding list as a good thing.

"This is not a blight on Clayton County," Singleton said. "It shows the strength of our county."

Singleton noted that county's preparedness meant it didn't need federal dollars to pay for emergency workers or to repair important infrastructure. As for individual storm victims, only three did not have insurance.

"We had all the resources to handle the situation ourselves," Singleton said. "The tornadoes hit an area that were (mostly) homeowners who had homeowners' insurance."

Yet what of Freeman, who lives with his fiance and her son and whose insurer reduced his coverage just days before the storms hit? Weiss suggested that the man seek help from GEMA and other area aid agencies.

Freeman has been set up in a county-owned apartment, but he's now paying both rent and his mortgage.

Bell cited Freeman as one of the reasons the county was holding out for any federal individual aid. "We do have a couple of questionables in those total uninsured numbers," Bell said, referring to the under-insured homeowner.

Freeman remains upbeat. "It's a learning experience," he said.