The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Thursday it will make disaster assistance funds available to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe to help with recovery from a derecho that struck the area in June.
The storm leveled millions of trees in the Bemidji area including the Leech Lake Reservation, which stretches primarily across Cass County, along with parts of Beltrami, Itasca and Hubbard counties.
“This is a tremendous load off our shoulders because we were worried about how much money we were spending,” said Duane Oothoudt, the tribe’s emergency management director, referring to recovery efforts. “Were we getting a disaster declaration? Were we going to get reimbursed from FEMA? It was a big sigh of a relief for a second, but now we have to go through the documentation and paperwork process.”
In a statement Thursday, FEMA said it would make federal funding available for the tribe’s emergency work and repair of facilities damaged by the storm, as well as individuals and families who needed temporary housing, home repairs and personal property replaced.
Beltrami County was denied federal disaster relief even though the storm blew down an estimated 9 million trees in the area. Chris Muller, Beltrami County Emergency Management director, said at the time that total damage in the county amounted to $8.2 million, about $800,000 short of qualifying for federal disaster relief.
Oothoudt estimated the tribe has spent up to $2 million in disaster relief, which included clearing roads of debris and providing funds for people to buy groceries.
“That’s a lot of money for our small government,” he said.
Oothoudt said he didn’t know the number of homes that were damaged, many of which are leased to residents by the tribe. Many people could not get to roads and lacked power and food, he said.
