U.S. Weighs Aid Plan for Landslide Victims

Local residents who lost homes to landslides triggered by El Nino-driven storms could benefit from a plan being formulated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

FEMA officials said they are looking into a plan to buy out California victims of last winter’s landslides, a program that could affect about 1,000 homeowners statewide. The plan, however, has not yet been approved by the state Office of Emergency Services, which would administer it.

If such a plan is approved, it is not known how many homeowners in Orange County could be affected, but according to county statistics, owners of 625 homes and 411 businesses applied to the state for storm damage assistance. It was not known how many of those were damaged in landslides.

FEMA officials said 566 Orange County applicants received disaster housing assistance worth $877,536 during the storm season.

Several homes in Laguna Beach and Laguna Niguel were destroyed or damaged during mudslides.

Under the proposed FEMA plan, the federal government would pick up 75% of the buyout costs, with the remainder coming from other government programs.

Kenneth Frank, Laguna Beach city manager, called the plan “very promising.” However, he said, if cities are expected to pay the 25% portion, Laguna Beach residents will be out of luck.

“We don’t have the 25% to match the money,” Frank said. The city spent $4 million this year on storm cleanup and repair, and only half of that will be reimbursed by FEMA, he said.

When large-scale disasters strike, he said, local governments cannot be expected to be able to foot the bill. “These disasters have to be handled on a national basis,” Frank said.

News about the proposed buyout was released prematurely by several members of Congress on Thursday, said FEMA Director James Lee Witt, who apologized Friday for the confusion and “the raised expectations of homeowners who are still recovering from devastating storms that inundated their homes and communities in the wake of El Nino.” The buyout policy should be finalized in the coming weeks, he said.