FEMA must face Atlanta flood repair lawsuit after approving just $200 of $1.2M aid
The Federal Emergency Management Agency can’t get out of a lawsuit by the city of Atlanta after approving only $200 of the city’s request for $1.2 million in flood repair costs, a federal judge in Atlanta has ruled.
The city sued FEMA in May 2024, claiming it didn’t properly respond to or assess the city’s 2009 request for federal disaster relief funds to pay for emergency flood repairs at the Robert M. Clayton Water Reclamation Center near the Chattahoochee River in northwest Atlanta. The city says FEMA denied related appeals for years without ever considering their merits.
FEMA asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, saying in part that Atlanta was too late challenging the agency’s findings.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Steven Grimberg denied FEMA’s request, ruling that Atlanta sufficiently alleged it had filed timely appeals with the agency. FEMA has two weeks to formally answer the lawsuit.
“Atlanta has adequately pleaded that its appeals were timely under the Stafford Act and the applicable regulation such that FEMA’s refusal to consider their substance improperly denied Atlanta its statutory appeal rights,” Grimberg wrote in the order.
Representatives of FEMA and the city of Atlanta did not immediately respond Monday to questions about the ruling.
Atlanta and other parts of Georgia were hit with record flooding in September 2009 that killed 10 Georgians, damaged tens of thousands of structures and did hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Then-President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in several Georgia counties, including Fulton County.
Parts of the Robert M. Clayton Water Reclamation Center were submerged and seriously damaged in the floods, costing $1.2 million, Atlanta said in its complaint. The damage led to untreated wastewater flowing into the Chattahoochee River. Eight ultraviolet disinfection units had to be replaced.
The city said it applied for FEMA assistance through the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, as required. It said FEMA gave initial approval in December 2009 for almost $1.1 million in repair costs, then reduced the estimated costs to less than $37,000 in September 2010.
GEMA informed Atlanta about that decision in March 2011, according to the lawsuit. Atlanta appealed the decision through GEMA within the required 60-day period, but GEMA didn’t send the appeal to FEMA until August 2011, the city alleged.
Atlanta said it learned in November 2014, while its appeal was still pending, that FEMA had determined the city was only entitled to $200 for repair costs, factoring in anticipated insurance proceeds. In December 2014, the city appealed that decision through GEMA, which sent the second appeal to FEMA in January 2015.
The city of Atlanta says FEMA did nothing with respect to the city’s appeals until August 2017, when the agency reached out for more information and raised concern for the first time about the timing of the first appeal.
In January 2018, FEMA denied the city’s appeals because GEMA hadn’t timely forwarded the first one, according to the lawsuit. A subsequent appeal by the city was denied by FEMA in May 2018.
GEMA is not a party to the case, which seeks in part to force FEMA to consider the substance of Atlanta’s appeals.
The judge rejected FEMA’s argument that Atlanta’s appeals failed though GEMA was to blame for the first appeal being late.
“FEMA’s interpretation of the regulation improperly imposes conditions on an applicant’s right to an appeal,” Grimberg wrote.
He said the relevant federal law does not give FEMA discretion to refuse to consider an appeal that is timely submitted.
About the Author
Journalist Rosie Manins is a legal affairs reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
