FARGO (AP) -- Cass County could be added to a presidential disaster declaration for 11 other North Dakota counties damaged by heavy June rains, county emergency manager Dave Rogness says.
"Originally, it didn't look like we had enough damages and costs to qualify," he said.
Once floodwaters receded, engineers noticed that the banks of a major drainage ditch had eroded. Rogness said that pushed total flood-related damages for the county over the $375,000 threshold for inclusion in the declaration.
President Bush on Tuesday granted Gov. John Hoeven's request for a disaster declaration for the counties of Barnes, Bowman, Dickey, Grant, LaMoure, Logan, McHenry, Ransom, Richland, Sargent and Stutsman.
Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker said adding Cass County to the disaster declaration would be good news for the city, which spent about $250,000 on a temporary downtown dike and other flood-fighting measures.
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"It would be a very good deal, and we'd have an opportunity to recover some of our costs," he said.
Officials from the state Division of Emergency Management were to visit Fargo on Tuesday to do a preliminary damage assessment for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Rogness said.
The disaster declaration obligates the federal government to pay 75 percent of the public works repair bill.
Other assistance also is available. For example, the declaration makes some private nonprofit groups eligible for assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the agency said.
Spokesman Mark Randle said that private businesses and individuals are not eligible for SBA disaster loans.
The private nonprofits that are eligible for SBA disaster loans include those that provide non-critical essential government services, such as homeless shelters and libraries, Randle said. Services considered critical are eligible for FEMA grants, he said. FEMA officials decide which services are critical.
