Gov. Ige Asks FEMA to Reconsider Request for Kaua‘i & O‘ahu

After April’s flooding, Gov. David Ige is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reconsider its initial denial of the state’s request for individual assistance for Kaua‘i and O‘ahu residents affected by storms and flooding.

Local residents in Wainiha, Kauai, wait for relief supplies to be unloaded April 17. 25th Infantry Division Soldiers transported emergency vehicles, food, water, bedding, hygiene products and other supplies to affected areas, and transported people stranded to Camp Naue near Princeville, Kauai. 25th Inf. Div. aviation assets were tasked to support relief efforts after the state requested assistance through U.S. Pacific Command. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Keith Anderson, 25th Infantry Division Public Affairs) (Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Keith Anderson)

The governor signed the request for reconsideration based on additional data, including: the identification of additional damages resulting from the disaster; additional insurance information that has found a significant number of uninsured losses; updated damage and trauma information; the documentation of additional economic/unemployment impact from the disaster.

“The individual component of our request for assistance is very, very important and we were extremely disappointed when our request was initially denied. We have been working with FEMA to appeal that decision, and we believe the request for reconsideration that I signed today is much stronger,” Gov. Ige said.

Since the governor’s initial request, the state and county have identified additional damaged homes via call-in centers, web-based reporting tools, disaster recovery centers, and volunteer groups that canvassed the counties. A second, follow up Joint Preliminary Damage Assessment was performed by FEMA, the county and Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency to validate the additional data.

At least 760 homes were impacted in some way by the storm and floods on Kaua‘i and O‘ahu, including 187 that were destroyed or suffered major damage. Of the 187 homes destroyed or severely damaged, 109 were owner-occupied.

Gov. Ige is seeking assistance from all of the federal individual assistance programs for Kaua‘i County and the City and County of Honolulu. The programs include Disaster Crisis Counseling, Disaster Unemployment Assistance and Disaster Case Management.