State officials are asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reconsider its December disaster declaration after several counties impacted by last year’s flooding were not included.

Eli Johnson, Weber County emergency management coordinator, told the Standard-Examiner on Wednesday that the state will be filing an appeal of the Dec. 26 declaration and that a discrepancy in dates may have led to the county not being included.

“The State Division of Emergency Management — their Office of Recovery — is in the process of preparing an appeal statement for Gov. (Spencer) Cox to sign and submit to FEMA,” Johnson said. “We’re of the thought that the reason Weber County wasn’t included in that was because of the date range FEMA assigned to the disaster and the fact that the majority of our damage and majority of our flooding issues occurred before that date range was established.”

On Dec. 26, FEMA announced that President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for the state of Utah stemming from the spring 2023 flooding that resulted  from record winter snowpack.

“Public Assistance federal funding is available to state, tribal and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by flooding in Iron, Morgan, Sanpete, Utah and Wasatch counties,” a press release on the declaration said. “Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.”

However, the date range covered is May 1-27. Preparations for flooding started long before those dates in Weber County.

According to Janna Wilkinson, Resilience Bureau chief for natural hazards, mitigation and recovery with the Utah Division of Emergency Management, the original request from the state included a longer time frame and several more counties.

“In August of 2023 the state of Utah submitted a request for a Presidential Disaster Declaration for flood damages that occurred from April 6 – June 9 2023 due to record snowpack and snowmelt runoff,” she told the Standard-Examiner by email Friday. “The initial request included eleven counties – Dagget, Grand, Iron, Juab, Kane, Morgan, Salt Lake, Sanpete, Utah, Wasatch, and Weber. … The decision regarding the incident period dates and the eligibility of Daggett, Grand, Juab, Kane, Salt Lake, and Weber counties will be included in the appeal. These counties and the additional incident dates encompass approximately $13 million dollars in damages from the preliminary damage assessments.”

Wilkinson added it may be some time before a decision is reached.

“Appeals must be submitted within 30 days of receipt of the official denial letter, which the state received on January 3rd, 2024,” she said. “There is the potential to request an extension to the submission deadline if justified.  Once the appeal request is submitted the timeline depends on FEMA’s review and response, and the full process could take anywhere from a few weeks to months.”

Wilkinson said she was unsure of any past instances in which the state has appealed a FEMA declaration.

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