U.S. to Go Halfway in Providing Relief for Storm Damage

The White House on Friday agreed to provide federal disaster assistance to Orange County and other local governments that sustained property damage in the fierce winter storm that swept across the Southern California coastline last month, but financial aid to private individuals was withheld .

State and local officials said they were surprised and disappointed by the decision because they had requested help for people who sustained losses in the turbulent weather that caused an estimated $68 million in damage. They said they would seek other ways to assist private property owners and businesses.

Expected More

Tom Mullins, a spokesman for the California Office of Emergency Services, said the state had expected a more favorable decision. But he added that his office will consider applying for funds on behalf of people who believe that they might qualify for low-interest loans. Such loans are provided by the Small Business Administration and the Farmers Home Administration.

“We have not received the federal government’s reasons for turning down the request for private loans,” Mullins said. “But we will explore ways to qualify for those programs.”

“If the funds are not available, we will do all we can to make them available,” said Amy Piskura, a spokeswoman for Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), who announced the decision.

The assistance, which will come in the form of loans, will go to governments in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Santa Barbara counties and to the City of Ventura. Those hoping to qualify for the funds must prove that “it is beyond their capability to cope with the situation at hand,” said Roy Gorup, a spokesman for the federal Emergency Management Agency.

Orange County officials estimated total damage from the Jan. 17 storm at $5.6 million--with the major share of it in damage to the Huntington Beach Pier, which lost 300 feet, including the city-owned End Cafe. Of the total, about $1.2 million was to private property, although much of it was insured, a county official said.

Laguna Beach Damage

In Laguna Beach, several hundred feet of boardwalk toppled in the storm in addition to wood and concrete stairways that the city is anxious to repair, Mayor Dan Kenney said.

However, an estimate by the state Office of Emergency Services puts losses in Orange County at only $3.3 million for public property, said Christine Boyd, emergency management division manager of the Orange County Fire Department. The OES estimated an additional $6,000 in losses to private individuals, she said.

Luckily, most of the owners of private businesses and residences damaged in the storm carried insurance, Boyd said. Officials have not determined how much aid is needed by local governments, which will only be able to apply for loans to cover structural damage. Federal agency spokesman Gorup said problems caused by the storm were not severe enough to warrant private assistance, even though Gov. George Deukmejian requested loans for individuals when he declared several counties disaster areas.

“We have different types of eligibility criteria,” Gorup said. “And we didn’t think it was beyond the local agencies’ capabilities to handle the (problems) faced by individuals.”

The criteria under the Small Business Administration, Boyd said, is that 25 businesses or private residences must have uninsured losses to qualify for disaster relief in the form of low-interest loans.

About 28 homes and businesses were damaged by the storm in Orange County, Boyd said, “and the figure could go higher.”

“There is still a chance that some people could receive Small Business Administration loans,” Boyd said.

Officials of Redondo Beach, the area hardest hit by the Jan. 17 storm, said they were pleased to learn that the city will receive federal assistance for the damage sustained there but were disappointed that private citizens will not be included.

“At least we got something, and you know the old cliche: ‘Half a loaf is better than none,’ ” said City Councilwoman Kay Horrell, who estimated that city property sustained about $3 million in damage in the storm. “But we would rather have had the whole loaf.”

The January storm ravaged the coastline from Santa Barbara south to Ensenada, Mexico. Wind-driven, 25-foot waves tore away part of the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach and caused major structural damage to other businesses.

In Malibu, residents were evacuated from two apartment houses, and several homes were damaged, and on Venice Beach tents belonging to homeless people were blown away.

Times staff writer David Reyes contributed to this story from Orange County.