Dakota County has again been turned down for federal disaster assistance, but the state is pledging aid of its own to help the county rebuild after summer floods and storms.
Dakota County suffered more than a million dollars' worth of damage from weeks of storms that raked the state in May and June. Although dozens of other counties have received federal disaster declarations, officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency rejected the state's second appeal for aid for Dakota.
"After thorough review of all the information contained in the initial request and your appeal, we reaffirm the original finding that the damage sustained in Dakota County was not of the severity and magnitude to warrant inclusion under the Public Assistance program," a FEMA official informed the governor's office Tuesday.
Just how much damage Dakota County suffered from the storms depends on who you ask. The county's initial July estimate topped $1.6 million. The state's assessment put the damages closer to $1.3 million.
But FEMA put the damage at just over $1 million -- under the threshold for federal assistance, based on the county's population -- after concluding that a landslide in Mendota was not triggered by the heavy rains that pounded the area. In a mid-September appeal to FEMA, the state argued that the rains did cause the landslide, which will cost the community between $425,100 and $699,400 to repair.
If the Mendota Heights landslide was factored back into the county damage total, the state argued, Dakota would once again be eligible for federal disaster aid.
FEMA held firm, so Gov. Mark Dayton directed the Minnesota Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Tuesday to make state public disaster assistance available to Dakota County.
State aid could cover up to 75 percent of the $1.3 million in estimated damage to county infrastructure, according to the Department of Public Safety.
