Local News
FEMA Going Through Assessments
FEMA agents made their tours and assessments of the Fond du Lac County area last week. They checked out the damage caused by storms that slammed the area back in August. Fond du Lac County Emergency Management Director Bobbi Hicken tells us the federal agency is very particular with what they mark down on their assessment sheets.
She says “this is the first time I’ve worked with them – and they truly want what’s best, but they have to be responsible with the money though. They need to ensure that it is going where it needs to go and that it’s disseminated properly.”
Hicken isn’t sure what kind of funding may be coming our way, pointing out that “FEMA only looks at residential areas, homes, actual living areas within
homes. That is the only thing that they are assessing. So for
a large majority of our destruction was done on barns and outbuildings and
sheds and garages – that was not something FEMA looked at whatsoever.”
After driving through local communities, Hicken is hopeful – saying “where we are compared to where we were a month ago is amazing. As I’ve
been driving around the community – the entire county – it is amazing in what I
saw a month ago and how, if you didn’t know any better, some communities you
wouldn’t even know that they were hit. It just shows the resiliency of the citizens
and the municipalities.”
Sixteen tornadoes touched down in Dodge and Fond du Lac Counties during those August storms.