Georgia emergency officials say the damage from the recent tornado in Chattooga County will not meet the required criteria for federal disaster assistance.

“A pretty steep threshold has to be met,” said Ken Davis, a spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

Mr. Davis explained the federal disaster criteria require uninsured damage estimates from storms to factor out to $1.24 per state resident and $3.28 per resident in the county.

Based on those figures, the damage total per county would have to be more the $85,000 and the estimate for the entire system across the state would have to be more than $10 million, he said.

Alan Bryant of Bryant and Sons Lumber Company in Summerville told the Chattanooga Times – Free Press “I don’t really know to say whether we got a dollar value for FEMA or GEMA or all of them, but we had a lot of damage,” His store had its grand reopening Saturday after the building’s roof was lifted up and shifted during the storms. 

Bryant and Sons Lumber Company was closed for a week and a half  while repairs were being made.Other businesses in Chattooga County were also damaged in the tornado and one mobile home was overturned.

To read the article in the Chattanooga Times-Free Press click here: 

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/may/04/cleaning/?local