PRINCETON – Mercer County did not receive enough snowfall in December 2009 to be part of a current federal disaster declaration for West Virginia, but there is still a possibility that it could be part of one pending for snow storms that struck in February, West Virginia’s director of Homeland Security said Wednesday.
Last week President Obama declared a federal disaster for 15 West Virginia counties including neighboring McDowell, Wyoming and Raleigh counties, but Mercer County was not included. During Tuesday’s meeting of the Bluefield City Board, city officials asked why the county, which had many damaged homes and businesses, was not part of the declaration.
A snow declaration is different from a normal declaration issued after events such as a flood where destroyed homes and buildings can be counted afterwards, said Jimmy Joe Gianato, West Virginia Director of Homeland Security.
“With snow removal, it’s a totally different thing,” he said. “The first criteria is that that county has to be at or near a record snowfall (for that county). That’s determined by the National Climatic Data Center, or it can be contiguous to a county that had an at or near record snowfall if it has the same amount of snow.”
However, Mercer County did not meet this requirement.
“In this particular snow event, Mercer County did not reach the at or near record snow fall based on information from the weather service,” Gianato said.
The second criteria is that the county has to meet a per captia threshold of dollar damage. This relates to the cost experienced by certain government agencies and nonprofit groups that provided services such as shelter, and Mercer County did not meet this threshold, either, Gianato said. Gianato did not have figures at hand Wednesday.
Information on the costs incurred during a snow event is provided to state Homeland Security through agencies such as the Department of Highways and the West Virginia National Guard. Individual towns can also submit information.
“I don’t think any of the towns in Mercer County submitted any estimated costs,” Gianato said. “Since the county did not meet the snowfall threshold, it most likely wouldn’t be eligible for the declaration.”
How snow information is submitted varies from county to county.
“In some cases we didn’t even have to have that (from counties) because of the DOH or National Guard costs,” he said.
However, Mercer County could still be eligible for a federal disaster declaration resulting from the February snow event, Gianato added.
“For February, we’re still getting weather information from the National Climatic Data Center,”
Tim Farley, director of the Mercer County Office of Emergency Services, said Wednesday that when the snowstorm occurred on Dec. 18, 2009, “the information I got from Charleston, it was based on a record two days snowfall, an accumulation event.”
The total accumulation of snow each county received between Dec. 18 and 19, 2009, was counted by the National Weather Service. Mercer County had approximately 17 inches of snow; McDowell County had 19 and 1/2 inches, Farley said.
Along with snowfall, total dollar amounts resulting from variables such as damage to power lines and what local state Department of Highways had to spend for snow removal are also counted.
One factor Mercer County is looking at is being considered a “contiguous” area with neighboring counties included in the disaster declaration, Farley said. To have this happen, Mercer County’s two day total of snow would have to be close to that in counties such as Raleigh County.
Joe Coburn, president of the Mercer County Commission, said he did not know why the county was not part of the declaration.
“We got hit heavy in Mercer County,’ Coburn said. “We can’t understand why the governor didn’t include Mercer County.”
If Mercer County becomes part of a federal disaster declaration, residents who experienced damages and wish to apply for assistance will need to keep copies of their receipts.
“What it cost to tear it down, haul it off, repair it,” Farley said. “Without recipients, they won’t even be considered.”
— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
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