Recovery center opens for residents in Dodge County By Diane Graff of the Daily Times staff Monday, June 23, 2008 12:42 PM CDT JUNEAU - Starting at noon today, Dodge County residents can go to Juneau and have their flooding questions answered by federal government officials. A Disaster Recovery Center (DRC), operated by Wisconsin Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) opened at noon today at the Juneau Public Safety Building, 128 Cross St. The center will be open until 7 o'clock today and regular operation hours will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week until further notice. The DRC is set up to help individuals and business owners who are registered for disaster assistance by answering their questions and provide them with information on FEMA disaster programs. The U.S. Small Business Administration staffs the DRC with customer service representatives who can help explain the disaster-loan program to homeowners, renters, and business owners. Representatives from other state, federal and volunteer agencies may also be able to assist the applicants. Dodge County Emergency Management and local officials are touring the county with FEMA representatives today to look at the damages to public infrastructure. Once FEMA reviews the damages, a determination will be made as to whether or not Dodge County and its municipalities will be eligible for public assistance damage reimbursements. ADVERTISEMENT Since the county has been declared a federal disaster due to the heavy rains earlier this month that has caused massive flooding, Dodge County residents and businesses are eligible for federal assistance from FEMA, SBA and USDA. Anyone affected can either call FEMA's toll-free helpline at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362), to start the registration process or register online at www.fema.gov. Both registration services are operational 24 hours a day. Residents need to formally register with FEMA to be eligible to receive assistance. Registration with anyone else, such as volunteer agencies, county and state agencies, local disaster managers, is a process separate from the federal and state disaster recovery program. "When the storms and flooding first occurred, a number of local governments asked their citizens to let them know what their losses were," Dolph Diemont, head of FEMA's disaster recovery team said. "This helped them let county and state governments determine the severity of the damages in the state." Wisconsin residents affected by recent severe storms, flooding and tornadoes already have received more than $1 million in FEMA grants for temporary housing and home repairs. Wisconsin Emergency Management (WEM) and FEMA report that so far, 10,444 Wisconsin residents have registered for individual assistance in the declared counties. Inspectors have assessed damages to 1,073 Wisconsin homes, and 686 individuals have visited DRCs. Dodge County Emergency Management continues to provide information to the public through the Web site at www.co.dodge.wi.us. The county Web site will continue to have updated road closures and information on the recent declaration of disaster by FEMA. Residents can also call the emergency operations center hotline at 920-386-4060 where information will be provided by an automated attendant. FEMA Community Relations (CR) Teams are mobilized in the 22 declared counties. The CR teams are covering hard hit areas providing disaster information on how to register with FEMA. Farmers that have reports and/or requests for assistance to damaged crops can contact the local Farm Service Agency at 386-9999, option 2. The county still has roads closed and citizens are not to drive on a closed road due to the water level and safety hazards that are present. The sheriff's department continues to ticket motorists that drive around, tamper, or move barricades.

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