Gov. seeks federal help

The heavy rain, hail and high winds that swept through Nebraska in June were so damaging to some areas that Gov. Dave Heineman is seeking federal disaster assistance.

Heineman on Tuesday asked President Barack Obama for at least $4 million in aid for 13 counties. Three more counties will be probably added, said Brian Podwinski of the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency.

The governor's request is for money to cover damage to public infrastructure, such as roads and bridges. It does not include private individuals' losses, such as crop damage.

Podwinski said it's possible that 1,000 miles or more of Panhandle roadways were washed out by the rains. Hardest hit was Morrill County, which accounts for about $2.6 million of the total damage request, Podwinski said.

The 13 counties in the disaster request are: Arthur, Box Butte, Cherry, Garden, Morrill, Scotts Bluff, Custer, Keya Paha, Hamilton, Rock, Dixon, Pawnee and Richardson.

Steve Erdman, a farmer and a County Board member from Bayard, said Morrill County probably won't fully recover for a year. The damage to public infrastructure, mostly washed out roads and bridges, dwarfs the county's $2.1 million annual budget.

“Amazing, amazing storms,” Erdman said. “There were storms of proportions that we hadn't seen in some people's lifetimes.”

On June 10, it hailed for about 40 minutes, with the hail starting out golf-ball-size, Erdman said. By the time the hailstorm ended, hail was 8 to 10 inches deep and had to be plowed off roadways.

Erdman estimated that homeowners, farmers and ranchers in the county suffered damage on par with the public sector amount of $2.8 million.

A number of communities received rainfall that far exceeded that in an average June. Erdman estimated that his farm received as much rain during the month as in a typical year.

Contact the writer:

444-1102, nancy.gaarder@owh.com

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