Federal assistance available for Washakie County

WORLAND – Friday evening the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the State of Wyoming announced additional disaster assistance will be available for Washakie County and its communities impacted by the June 7-22 flooding.  

Assistance is for infrastructure damage and emergency response efforts undertaken by state, county and local governments.

Federal funding is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations in Washakie County for emergency work and the repair or replacement of their facilities damaged by flooding. The program comes with a 75 percent federal cost share, with the remaining costs borne by the state and local governments, according to a state of Wyoming press release.

On August 5, the president announced the disaster declaration that made Fremont and Park counties, as well as the Wind River Indian Reservations within Fremont County, eligible for assistance. FEMA and the state have conducted briefings for impacted jurisdictions to explain how to apply for assistance and will work with applicant jurisdictions to identify damage and begin site inspections shortly.

FEMA and Wyoming Office of Homeland Security personnel met with city of Worland and Washakie County officials last month and conducted a pre-disaster assessment last week to determine if the county qualified to be included on the disaster declaration.

This is the first time Washakie County has been included in a federal disaster declaration.

For Washakie County, a local disaster declaration was signed on June 30 by Washakie County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Director Jeff Schweighart, commissioners and Worland Mayor Jim Gill. While the federal declaration was for June 7-22, the local declaration was from flooding that occurred from snowmelt runoff that began in April and continued into July.

Schweighart said last week that the visit Monday, that also included personnel from the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security, was to complete the pre-disaster assessment phase required before a declaration can be issued.

He said the focus of the meeting was on the city’s 65-year-old sewer line. “That’s the trigger mechanism for Washakie County to be included in the presidential declaration,” Schweighart said.

Worland Engineer Mike Donnell of the city’s engineering firm Donnell & Allred, reported to the council in July that, “We have something going on with the flooding right now on our big 24–inch outflow sewer line.” The line takes most of the town’s sewer from 15th Street, west, to the wastewater treatment plant.

Donnell said the river cut into the bank and eroded a road. The line used to be on the other side of the road. “We’re now under the river,” he said, noting that the distance between the two manholes is about 500 feet with about 400 under the river.

He said the sewer pipe has been away from the river since the time it was put in, in 1957. This year the river went out of its banks and moved out to the east.

Donnell said initially the line was buried about seven feet deep and there were a few spots where the pipe is exposed with no cover between the river and the pipe.

Burky reported earlier this month that there was a small collapse in the line that has been repaired.

For Washakie County, damage from the entire runoff event, April through July included providing security gates at the Nowater Creek crossing, and replace a culvert between Ten Sleep and Worland on the old highway.