MADISON – Governor Walker has requested the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) conduct a Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA) in Wisconsin beginning September 24, 2018 for flood and tornado damage to homes, businesses and public infrastructure. This is the first step in requesting a federal disaster declaration.
“Many Wisconsin families are hurting following the devastating flooding and tornado outbreak that has impacted our state in the last three weeks,” said Governor Walker. “We want to get federal disaster relief as quickly as possible to help these families and communities recover.”
Teams from FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will coordinate with state and local emergency management officials beginning the week of September 24 to view major damage to homes and businesses as well as public infrastructure such as roads, dams and bridges. The PDA will take approximately a week to complete. Once the PDA is completed, information gathered will be given to Governor Walker to use in his request to President Trump for a federal disaster declaration.
The state continues working with local officials to determine which counties FEMA will assess damage. Some counties are still waiting for rivers to drop below flood stage to view damage. Currently, major flooding is still occurring on the Rock River at Lake Koshkonong. The National Weather Service says it has crested but won’t be below major flood state until Friday or Saturday because it is a huge body of water and is slowly receding. Both the Fox and Rock Rivers will remain above flood stage through the end of next week.
Governor Walker reminds homeowners and businesses that sustained storm and flood damage to report it to 2-1-1 or contact their county emergency management by Friday. The information will be submitted to Wisconsin Emergency Management this weekend.
