Bulloch County has received about $11 million, mainly from FEMA, for public cleanup and recovery efforts after two hurricanes and a tropical storm that roared through in 2023 and 2024. But the county is still awaiting $12 million to $14 million more in pending or potential reimbursements, says Bulloch EMA Director Corey Kemp.

Add that up and you get a ballpark eventual total of $23 million to $25 million, all for costs incurred to remove debris and repair roads, drainage structures and bridges damaged by Hurricane Idalia in late August 2023, Tropical Storm Debby in early August 2024 and Hurricane Helene in late September 2024. Most of the money comes from the U.S. government through its Federal Emergency Management Agency, with smaller shares reimbursed sometimes by the state-level Georgia EMA, or GEMA.

Kemp gave an update for the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners during their Tuesday morning regular meeting. His slideshow included line items for reimbursements for each of the storms and highlighted the amounts pending but not yet received. One slide displayed the estimated total of $12 million to $14 million not received, but he hadn’t totaled the amounts already paid. So the reporter added those up and called Kemp later, and he agreed that “about $11 million” was correct for the FEMA reimbursements paid to the county, and that this would make the expected three-storm total $23 million or more.

“Yes, and this is just the money that’s to make us back whole,” Kemp said. “It’s money that we’ve spent during storms and after. It’s just making us whole.”

In other words, it will not be extra income to the county.

Incidentally, almost all of the further expected reimbursement is money the county government had already applied for, or been told it was eligible for, before a recent federal announcement.

Last Thursday and Friday, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FEMA Senior Official Performing the Duties of Administrator Karen Evans issued an announcement that $1 billion in federal funding “is now available to communities and healthcare facilities in Georgia.”

But the $350 million noted there for Hurricane Helene and Tropical Storm Debby recovery projects around the state was what communities such as Bulloch County had already applied for and been told to expect, according to Kemp. 

“So that … is for projects we’ve already been working on; it wasn’t anything new that we can ask for,” he told the commissioners.

However, he noted that funding for three of Bulloch County’s specific projects was “obligated,” or confirmed, with Thursday and Friday’s action.

“They sent me the paperwork Saturday morning. I signed for it Saturday morning and sent it back that day,” Kemp said. “Sunday, they sent me the cost records, I went ahead and signed for those, so we just need to do the work.”

He also noted that the county may apply for proposed projects in other categories of the announced FEMA funding, such as hazard mitigation funding for generators for the Animal Shelter and Public Works buildings and for development of a stormwater master plan.

Ditching from Idalia

Amounts listed here have been rounded to the nearest dollar for simplicity. On his Hurricane Idalia list, dating back to that federal fiscal year 2023 storm, the largest single amount shown was $2,002,301 as 50% of the expected reimbursement for “countywide ditching of roads.”

Kemp said that amount has already been paid to the county, but that the other half is yet to come, so approximately another $2,002,301. The actual ditching work was 75% done as of this Dec. 1, with an estimated completion date of May 1, 2026.

“The other 50 percent cannot be collected until we have completely finished with the project and we have actually closed out the fund,” Kemp told the commissioners. “That will take approximately another six months.”

With an updated timeline from Road Superintendent Mitch Johnson for completion of the ditching by March 1, and facing a March 24 FEMA “period of performance” deadline, Kemp said he will apply in January for a 12-month extension. But he said he believes the Idalia-related ditching project will be finished, including about three months for the paperwork, in half that time.

Other Hurricane Idalia funding amounts already received include $70,680 for debris removal, $531,833 for the Brannen Pond Road paved roadway and drainage structure repair, $839,394 for countywide road repairs, and another $493,538 for grading of dirt roads.

The county is also eligible to “ask for” up to $349,414 in management costs based on county staff members’ time spent on processes related to the FEMA applications, Kemp reported.

But right now, he said, the county has added up only about $20,000 cost for the work of now-retiring Public Works Director Dink Butler in that management role. Kemp said he and two other staff members will now complete the paperwork, for maybe $10,000 to $12,000 in further costs, again currently with a March 24 deadline but seeking an extension.

Debby not done yet

In Bulloch County, Tropical Storm Debby was much more a heavy rainfall and flooding event than a wind event, as reflected by relatively minor debris removal costs but major road repair projects. From the resulting fiscal year 2024 FEMA disaster funding, the county’s largest single reimbursement so far was $787,803 for the box culvert replacement and pavement restoration on Nevils-Denmark Road.

Other Debby reimbursements have included $46,291 for additions to the Brannen Pond Road project after further damage, $54,285 for culvert damage repair on Dekle Road, $82,992 for shoulder damage on Burkhalter Road, $89,357 for emergency protective measures and $5,334 for debris removal.

Also a result of Debby, the county is eligible for $1.6 million for ditch and drainage costs on its road crew Routes 1-4, but this work cannot be started until the ditching work authorized for Idalia is completed, Kemp said. It is expected to take three months to complete after that, he said.

Additionally, washout repairs have been completed on all the routes, but only the Route 3 reimbursement of $43,717 has been received, with around $647,000 due for the work on the other routes. For dirt road grading, the county has been reimbursed $193,206 for Routes 3 and 4, but is waiting on $175,067 funding for Routes 1 and 2.

Also from the Debby storm, a project to repair to G.W. Oliver Road, replacing seven damaged culverts, is approved for a cost estimate of $2.3 million; to Country Club Road, also including culvert damage, for a cost estimate of $891,000; and to Pleasant Hill Road, with a bridge culvert, about $189,000.

Those are approved for 85% reimbursement but have not been completed. So the actual federal payouts should be about $2 million for G.W. Oliver Road, $757,000 for Country Club Road and apparently around $160,000 for Pleasant Hill.

Helene’s costly cleanup

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, the county received expedited funds for debris removal of $5,921,253, the largest single item, and $46,779 for emergency protective measures, both at 100% federal reimbursement.

But the county is awaiting a 100% reimbursement of $1,146,511 for further early-stage debris removal, and a 75% reimbursement of $4,169,680 on later-stage debris removal costs.

For the county to get those remaining amounts, Kemp said, he needs to work with the finance office to show proof of how much the county spent on collecting the debris. The total estimate, as seen by adding the amount already received and those still pending, was about $11 million. 

He has no prediction on when the county will have received all of the money. On anything that is done and with the paperwork ready, it would be probably 30 to 45 days, he said.

“It’s coming. It’s just going to take its time,” Kemp said when asked if there’s any uncertainty about the county eventually receiving the remaining money.