Tennessee elected officials have asked President Donald Trump to take federal action in the wake of Friday’s downtown bombing, but five days later, the White House has not yet included an emergency statement.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says this is unusual.
“We have won Governor Lee’s request for an emergency declaration,” a FEMA spokesman said in an email. “The application is being reviewed recently. “
Gov. Bill Lee on Saturday asked for assistance for Nashville, asking FEMA to help him with debris removal and emergency protection. The application was made under the Public Assistance Program under Stafford’s Robert T Act on Crisis Relief and Emergency Assistance.
Although the White House and FEMA approved a crisis declaration two days after the March 3 tornado, no similar designation was made for the spaces until July 10 after May 3 and the four floods.
Mayor John Cooper said Second Avenue would look like a structure site in the coming months. It said that verification of the structural integrity of structures was the first step in the process. A structure collapsed.
At least 41 businesses in the region were the result of the explosion.
Nashville Code Department spokesman Eben Cathey said inspectors would be temporarily sent once federal police complete their investigation and restore dominance to the city.
Inspectors will then evaluate the buildings according to FEMA categories: destroyed, primary damage, minor and unaffected damage. Once a construction is classified, construction homeowners can start working with engineers in the following cleaning and construction steps.
The president can claim an emergency for any case where federal assistance is needed, for a budget of up to $five million.
Statement assistance provides emergencies to protect public lives, property, fitness, and safety, or to mitigate the risk of a disaster.
Under an emergency declaration, federal resources can assist in debris removal and emergency coverage measures, according to FEMA publications. others affected by a crisis who have significant needs and expenses without insurance or under-insurance.
Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican for Tennessee, video on Monday and met with law enforcement officials. He said they had discussed the federal resources needed to investigate and rebuild.
FEMA will assess the need for a crisis declaration in a variety of factors, adding the estimated cost, impact concentration, current insurance, hazards that have been mitigated, and the number of recent crises, the agency says.
But until the FBI and other agencies have finished their investigation of the blast site, the damaged evidence may continue to be delayed.
Contact journalist Mariah Timms at mtimms@tennessean. com or 615-259-8344 and on Twitter @MariahTimms.