Virginia’s Florence costs are $41 million and rising, with federal aid on the way

Sept. 18--When Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency on Sept. 8, he gave the state the authority to spend $60 million to deal with any impacts from Hurricane Florence.

Two days later, 245,000 people living in Zone A, the area most prone to flooding, were told to evacuate.

Dispatching and providing for the rescue teams, shelter staff, nurses and other personnel Virginia had in place while bracing for a direct hit has cost taxpayers $41 million in two weeks, the state's top emergency management official told reporters Monday.

Jeff Stern, who heads the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, said he expects that number to rise as his agency and others continue providing aid.

By Monday, the hurricane had become a tropical depression and had dumped more than 30 inches of rain in some areas of North Carolina, cut off access to Wilmington, N.C., and killed at least 32.

It had, for the most part, spared Virginia, but parts of southwest and central Virginia were under tornado watches and warnings as well as flash flood warnings throughout the day Monday, and the Virginia Department of Emergency Management was still operating 24 hours a day, spokesman Jeff Caldwell said.

Most of the money spent on Hurricane Florence will come out of the state's general fund for now. But thanks to President Donald Trump's declaration of emergency on Sept. 11, about 75 percent of those costs will be federally reimbursed, state Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne told lawmakers Monday.

Replenishing the general fund through federal reimbursement will take some time, though -- 18 months to two years, Layne estimated while appearing before the House Appropriations Committee.

In the meantime, he said the state might be able to use surplus money at the end of this year to cover some of the costs while it waits for federal reimbursement.

The $41 million spent so far doesn't include localities' costs for turning schools into shelters and opening emergency operation centers. Cities and counties can also apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement.

Layne said that, had the hurricane taken a more northern route, the cost to the state could've been much greater.

"A week ago at this time, we were right in the crosshairs," he said. "That is really the issue with this type of planning, particularly when we look at any type of evacuation. We have to be somewhere between 72 hours out to make that call."

More than half of the budgeted $60 million -- an estimated $32 million -- was set aside for operating two shelters at Christopher Newport University and The College of William and Mary. It was the first time Virginia had ever opened state-run shelters for an emergency, Layne said.

Emergency management officials are still determining how much was actually spent on operating the shelters, Caldwell said. The cost estimate assumed they would stay open a week, but the William and Mary shelter closed at 6 p.m. Friday, and the CNU shelter closed at noon Saturday.

Virginia Commonwealth University was designated as a reserve shelter but was never used.

The shelters at CNU and William and Mary were managed by state emergency management staff and private contractors. They could have held up to 5,800 people, but the Department of Emergency Management said 52 evacuees were housed in the two shelters at peak occupancy.

Around Hampton Roads, localities slowly closed each of their shelters in schools and community centers, sending evacuees to CNU or William and Mary.

The other large expense, about $20 million, was budgeted for the deployment of two urban search-and-rescue task forces.

Virginia has also sent resources to North Carolina, including about 60 Virginia National Guard soldiers, 20 medium tactical vehicles, a dozen members of the Hampton Roads Incident Management Team, Swift Water Rescue teams and 35 nurses since Saturday.

Stern said he expects Virginia will provide long-term support to North Carolina after the storm.

Any costs incurred from providing support to North Carolina would be reimbursed by that state, Layne said in a phone interview.

Virginia's reserve funds have been low in the last few years, Layne said, and while the state is slowly building it back up, he wants to "start the conversation" on how to better budget for disasters.

"We do not budget for any of these particular emergencies," he told legislators Monday.

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