O.C. Could Get $800,000 From U.S. for El Nino Repairs

With more than $9 million coming to California in a federal grant from the Clinton administration to help rebuild El Nino flood-ravaged homes, Orange County is expected to receive about $800,000.

The grant is targeted for low- and moderate-income residents, said Alex Sachs, a spokesman with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington.

The California grants are part of $49.4 million in aid given out by HUD to repay and rebuild communities hit by natural disasters in 12 states from October 1997 to June of this year.

Grant funds are not intended to reimburse losses covered by private insurance or other disaster assistance programs such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency or Small Business Administration, Sachs said.

“Funds can go to relocation for displaced people, replacement housing and also for help-fund mitigation, to help keep disasters from occurring again,” he said.

Officials said the grant money coming to Orange County is not the total amount the county will receive to help pay for $58 million in damage wrought by El Nino storms. The $800,000 the county will receive will go strictly to private homeowners and not to cities and other public agencies.

The exact amount for Orange County from the latest grant is not yet known, but Sachs estimated the $800,000 figure based on previous disaster claim amounts through FEMA and other disaster funding for California, he said.

But state officials, who will distribute $9.1 million to 41 counties in California, said Thursday that they have not had time to coordinate a distribution program since the funding announcement last Friday.

“We just found out the funds have been allocated to the state and we need to work out how the funds will be used and what the regulatory requirements are,” said Paula Schulz, state hazards mitigation officer.

Across the state, thousands of homes and businesses were damaged and at least 17 people died during the storms. State authorities estimated $550 million in damage from the disaster.

FEMA has paid $151.5 million in disaster relief to California for public works, temporary housing, disaster unemployment payments, crisis counseling and individual assistance, said Ana Marcelo, a FEMA spokeswoman.

“We expect that figure on FEMA funds to keep rising,” Marcelo said.

An amount allocated to Orange County from FEMA could not be immediately obtained.

In Orange County, more than 600 homes and 400 businesses were damaged by the storms, and in Laguna Beach and Laguna Niguel heavy rainfall may have caused landslides that toppled several homes.

Earlier this year, the county received another grant of $700,000 to help homeowners. In addition, the Small Business Administration has funded nearly $6 million in loan approvals to Orange County residents. The SBA makes loans for federal disaster assistance to homeowners, renters, businesses and private, nonprofit organizations.