County to ask state for cleanup assistance

Lincoln County’s Emergency Management Agency is preparing a reimbursement request to the state, asking for more roughly $152,000 in payments for costs incurred as a result of the Dec. 9, 2015, flooding events throughout Lincoln County.

EMA deputy director Lisa Oedewaldt characterized the damage as “fairly substantial,” especially in the Troy area. Approximately $94,000 of the estimated damages occurred in the Troy area.

“I think I would classify it as some fairly substantial damage,” she said. “We lost roads, culverts and had some pretty good damage to our public infrastructure. Add to that some houses got flooded in Troy. But I will say that if our road crews hadn’t responded as fast as they did and our commissioners hadn’t recognized the need to fix things and act quickly, I think it could’ve been a lot worse.”

The damage in Troy included a complete washout of St. Regis Haul Road, another washout at Iron Creek, the levee on Callahan Creek below the bridge and damage to the bridge abutment. In Libby, where damage was estimated at roughly $58,000, repairs included the road and culverts on Lower Granite Creek Road, repairs to the road and rip rap at the end of Trainer Street.

The county has paid for the repairs from the emergency fund so far, but hopes to receive reimbursement from the state fund. Reimbursement, Oedewaldt said, is at the discretion of the governor’s office and predicated upon fund availability. The governor can choose to reimburse the county for all of the expenses, none of them or any amount in between.

Oedewaldt praised the efforts of the county’s road crews in responding to the flood.

“The Libby and Troy road crews were amazingly quick to respond to the flooding and have been fantastic and getting things repaired,” Oedewaldt said. “They are such an asset and easy to work with. I appreciate them so much.”