Gov. Mitch Daniels on Saturday sent a letter to President Bush, formally requesting federal individual assistance for flood victims in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.
In his letter, Daniels put the initial damage expenditure estimate for individual assistance at just shy of $19.2 million. The figure doesn't list any public assistance costs, which includes debris removal, roads and bridges, utilities and emergency protective measures.
Flood-ravaged Munster hasn't even begun to calculate the hours of overtime and extra costs associated with the flood, Munster Town Manager Tom DeGiulio said.
Once the residents are helped, public assistance will be requested for the municipality and first responders, he said.
Since Tuesday, Munster officials have been working with representatives from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide information on Munster's damage, he said.
U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., and the entire Indiana Congressional Delegation issued a letter to Bush on Saturday, supporting Daniels' request for a major disaster declaration for Indiana. The letter asks the president to fulfill the request as quickly as possible.
There is no official process to expedite the request. But, Visclosky has spent time in flooded parts of Northwest Indiana and doesn't want the president to delay, Visclosky spokesman Jacob Ritvo said.
"If this isn't an emergency disaster area, I don't know what is," Munster Town Council President Helen Brown said. "I've lived here 30 years. I've never seen anything close to this."
Brown joined building and electrical inspectors who went door-to-door Saturday in the 8000 block of Madison Avenue, continuing cursory home inspections. A green tag meant the family could return and live in their home, but a red tag meant the utilities are cut until needed repairs are complete.
People were covered in mud from head to toe, and debris was piled high in yards and parkways, Brown said.
Daniels' request for individual assistance programs includes disaster housing, disaster unemployment assistance and crisis counseling.
Some people lost their homes, and others lost irreplaceable heirlooms and photo albums, DeGiulio said.
"It's literally impossible for families and individuals to go back to what was," he said. "That's where you get the crisis counseling. A piece of you is gone, and now you've got to recover."
DeGiulio said he told Daniels last week that the same people affected by the flooding were affected by the powerful August storm. People are suffering from "disaster fatigue," he said.
"You've got residents who haven't even been able to recover from the August storm," DeGiulio said.
Now, they're dealing with a flood that destroyed houses or filled basements with water, which leads to mold problems and the need to replace furnaces and hot water heaters. Cars were ruined, and school supplies were destroyed.
People lost things that reminded them of their family history.
"Those are the tragedies," DeGiulio said. "You can get a new stove."
