President George W. Bush has yet to declare a state of emergency for Virginia despite tens of millions of dollars in damage across the northern part of the state.
Since June 30, Maryland, Delaware, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York have all been declared federal disaster areas.
This designation allows local governments, residents and businesses in these states to request federal financial assistance.
FEMA spokesman Gregory Hughes said federal inspectors are surveying damage now and would make a determination as to whether to declare the state a disaster zone as early as Monday.
He said Gov. Tim Kaine on June 30 asked federal inspectors to come to the commonwealth and assess damage.
FEMA inspectors for the past week have been working with Virginia officials to come up with a cost estimate, which will be used to determine whether the president will release federal aid.
Hughes said he could not comment on why other states had disasters declared before Virginia.
“I’m not in the other states, so I can’t say for sure,” he said.
Mark Penn, emergency management coordinator for Alexandria, said city and Fairfax County officials met with FEMA inspectors Thursday to give their damage estimates. He said the meetings went well, but that he is surprised the federal government has not made a decision to call Virginia a disaster zone.
“We have no idea why the declaration hasn’t been made,” he said.
Residents of the storm-ravaged Huntington area of Fairfax County said financial assistance from the federal government was essential to rebuilding their homes.
Members of the community — which saw 160 homes declared unfit to live in after waters from Cameron Run washed through the night of June 25 — questioned the federal response at a meeting Thursday.
One woman asked a state official why declarations had been made for other states but not Virginia.
At a glance
The Virginia Department of Emergency Management released an updated storm damage assessment for Northern Virginia on Friday afternoon:
Alexandria
Private » $4.6 million
Public » $3.5 million
Arlington County
Private » $6 million
Public » $6.9 million
Fairfax County
Private » $4 million
Public » $2.9 million
Prince William County
Private » $55,000
Public » $61,000
