The city of Anderson is funding an emergency assistance program for residents in that city with flooded homes.
Anderson Mayor Thomas Broderick, Jr., says the city is using a total of $600,000 to give $1,000 in aid to homes directly in or adjacent to the floodplain from this month’s historic flooding. Broderick says the city estimates there are about 600 homes impacted.
“I want to make clear,” he explained, “that we know we cannot make people whole with this limited amount of money. That’s certainly not the intent …. But instead, we can provide immediate emergency bridge assistance.”
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Broderick says the “general emergency assistance program” is for “the folks in the immediate path of destruction who have been displaced, or left with an inability to individually overcome the immediate and on-going effects of this historical disaster.”
The city intends to create a simple one-page application, out by Thursday, and says officials will quickly process those and make payments within five days.
To receive the benefit, a damaged home must be a person’s primary residence. Renters are eligible, but businesses are not.
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During a Monday morning press conference, Broderick took several angry questions from residents about why the city didn’t do more, send out more information, or be more visible during the active flooding.
Broderick replied, “We have 42 square miles, 55,000 residents. I couldn’t be at everybody’s doorstep at the same time.” Broderick continued to say the actions taken by the city, which he detailed in the first 20 minutes of the press conference, were “all lead by me, directed by me, most of it written by me.”
During the flooding, the White River in Anderson crested at just under 25 feet on August 14.
Stephanie Wiechmann is the managing editor and “All Things Considered” host at Indiana Public Radio. Contact her at slwiechmann@bsu.edu
