Friend us on Facebook
March 12th, 2010
Mike Bower, Midwest City emergency management director, is spearheading a program approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for an initial $750,000 to give out to residents to help them pay for safe rooms in their homes. Bower estimated the funds would cover the majority of the cost for about 400 safe rooms. His office has received more than 1,200 applications.
"The response has been overwhelming," Bower said. To make the selection process fair, the city has devised a system that does not award the funds on a first-come, first-served basis.
"It's a random, computer-generated lottery," Bower said.
NO FAVORITES
Any homeowner in the city was eligible regardless of income, and no favoritism was given to those whose homes had previously suffered storm damage. The only homeowners who will be eliminated are those whose homes lie in a flood plain.
April Rankin, GIS technician in the Midwest City Community Development Department, has spent the last month entering the names and addresses of applicants and creating maps that show where every application originated and where existing flood plains sit. On her computer screen, red dots pop up in all quadrants of the city where residents have applied for the federal funds.
Bower said the mitigation funds come from the federal government after a disaster. The city has been able to tap those funds after storms and tornados.
It is then up to a community on how it chooses to spend those funds to help prevent future property damage and loss of life due to natural disasters. FEMA approved the application to provide those funds to homeowners to install safe rooms that comply with strict FEMA safety standards. After installation, city officials will visit each home to make sure the safe rooms comply with FEMA standards.
For those who are selected, Bower said each homeowner will pay for his or her safe room or shelter up front and then turn in his or her receipts for reimbursement. The funds will cover 75 percent of the cost for each homeowner up to $2,000. Bower said on average a below-ground shelter runs about $2,500 to $3,500.
The city has public storm shelters for when the tornado sirens sound. Bower said those shelters combined only hold about 2,000 people. He said those who have neighbors with safe rooms may also benefit because many of those can hold two to three families during a storm.
The Midwest City Fire Department has also started a program for residents to register their shelters through Global Positioning System technology so that in the event a storm plows through and buries a shelter in rubble, firefighters will be able to locate and retrieve the occupants inside.
RUMPUS ROOM
The safe room program also includes strict oversight so that homeowners don't simply take the funds to finish out an existing basement into a rumpus room. Homeowners will not be reimbursed for existing safe rooms or those already under contract. They can only enter into a contract after being selected for the program.
Joe Lenochan, owner of Storm Safe in Midwest City, installs safe rooms beneath garage floors. The rooms require a hole 52 inches deep. The shelter is four feet by eight feet, and each takes six to eight hours to complete.
The normal price for installation of a safe room by Storm Safe runs $2,995. Lenochan is looking at charging $2,695 for installation, taxes and permits for recipients of the FEMA funds, leaving homeowners an out-of-pocket cost of $695.
Midwest City Emergency Operations office seeks to help citizens build safe rooms
In Oklahoma, the wind does indeed come sweeping down the plains. When that wind gets violent, the best place to be is in a safe room.
The Midwest City Emergency Operations office is working to tap federal hazardous mitigation funds to make those safe rooms more affordable for some homeowners.Mike Bower, Midwest City emergency management director, is spearheading a program approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for an initial $750,000 to give out to residents to help them pay for safe rooms in their homes. Bower estimated the funds would cover the majority of the cost for about 400 safe rooms. His office has received more than 1,200 applications.
"The response has been overwhelming," Bower said. To make the selection process fair, the city has devised a system that does not award the funds on a first-come, first-served basis.
"It's a random, computer-generated lottery," Bower said.
NO FAVORITES
Any homeowner in the city was eligible regardless of income, and no favoritism was given to those whose homes had previously suffered storm damage. The only homeowners who will be eliminated are those whose homes lie in a flood plain.
April Rankin, GIS technician in the Midwest City Community Development Department, has spent the last month entering the names and addresses of applicants and creating maps that show where every application originated and where existing flood plains sit. On her computer screen, red dots pop up in all quadrants of the city where residents have applied for the federal funds.
Bower said the mitigation funds come from the federal government after a disaster. The city has been able to tap those funds after storms and tornados.
It is then up to a community on how it chooses to spend those funds to help prevent future property damage and loss of life due to natural disasters. FEMA approved the application to provide those funds to homeowners to install safe rooms that comply with strict FEMA safety standards. After installation, city officials will visit each home to make sure the safe rooms comply with FEMA standards.
For those who are selected, Bower said each homeowner will pay for his or her safe room or shelter up front and then turn in his or her receipts for reimbursement. The funds will cover 75 percent of the cost for each homeowner up to $2,000. Bower said on average a below-ground shelter runs about $2,500 to $3,500.
The city has public storm shelters for when the tornado sirens sound. Bower said those shelters combined only hold about 2,000 people. He said those who have neighbors with safe rooms may also benefit because many of those can hold two to three families during a storm.
The Midwest City Fire Department has also started a program for residents to register their shelters through Global Positioning System technology so that in the event a storm plows through and buries a shelter in rubble, firefighters will be able to locate and retrieve the occupants inside.
RUMPUS ROOM
The safe room program also includes strict oversight so that homeowners don't simply take the funds to finish out an existing basement into a rumpus room. Homeowners will not be reimbursed for existing safe rooms or those already under contract. They can only enter into a contract after being selected for the program.
Joe Lenochan, owner of Storm Safe in Midwest City, installs safe rooms beneath garage floors. The rooms require a hole 52 inches deep. The shelter is four feet by eight feet, and each takes six to eight hours to complete.
The normal price for installation of a safe room by Storm Safe runs $2,995. Lenochan is looking at charging $2,695 for installation, taxes and permits for recipients of the FEMA funds, leaving homeowners an out-of-pocket cost of $695.
Bower hopes to get the applications filed this week. It will then go to the FEMA office in Denton, Texas, and from there it is just a waiting game to find out exactly how much money will be awarded and when those funds will arrive.
photo Mike Bower, emergency management director for Midwest City and April Rankin, GIS technician, look over about 1,500 applications the city received from homeowners seeking financial help from the federal government to install storm shelters in their homes. A lottery system will whittle down the applicants to 400, who will be eligible to receive $2,000 toward a storm shelter. photo/Kelley Chambers
Copyright ©2012 Eastword News. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of content in any manner without permission is prohibited. To obtain permission, contact us.