Beltrami Co., Surrounding Areas Fall Short of FEMA Funding Threshold

After weeks of cleanup efforts and tallying the numbers, Beltrami County and surrounding areas affected by the June 21 storm fell short of eligibility to request for federal assistance.

The derecho left more than $8 million in non-insured infrastructure damage in its wake, where an estimated 9 million trees were knocked down and uprooted. The damage received, however, falls short of FEMA disaster relief by $800,000.

“It wasn’t a surprise,” said Beltrami County Emergency Management Director Chris Muller. “We came in at about $8.3 million for Beltrami County and Beltrami County entities that report through us. Where we fell short was the state of Minnesota. The state of Minnesota has a threshold that they need to reach in order to request federal assistance, and that is $10.7 million. And between the six other counties and [the White Earth] Nation that did the Preliminary Damage Assessment with us, we came in $800,000 short of being able to request federal assistance.”

Beltrami County and surrounding areas may not be eligible for FEMA funding, but other avenues can now be taken.

“That does open the door for the state assistance program,” explained Muller. “So, not everything is lost. The state of Minnesota has a program where they can apply and get 75% reimbursement. It follows the FEMA program, except you only need to have 50% of the federal indicator for your state.”

For Beltrami County, the remaining 25% that won’t be reimbursed is estimated to be around $2 million.

“It’s not just Beltrami County that’s going to have to eat that,” Muller said. “It’s going to be the city of Bemidji, the townships, the schools, MnDOT, and other state partners as well. Each one of them will submit what their damages were, and they will get reimbursed 75% of that. So whatever they don’t get reimbursed for is what they’re responsible for.”

Muller says that the dollars and cents matter, but the biggest concern for emergency management is the well-being of the people they serve.

“The fact that this derecho, the 120 mph winds hit the most densely populated area of northern Minnesota is just incredibly bad luck,” added Muller. “One of the things that emergency management at a county level does is, we work to restore our government. We want to get our services back. We want to make sure that we can provide the businesses that we have and making sure that we’re open.”

The 20212 storm that swept through the Bemidji area is what set the groundwork for Minnesota’s Disaster Assistance Contingency Account, which will make areas affected by the derecho three-quarters whole versus having no assistance.