Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder is asking the State Emergency Management Agency to explain why the St. Louis suburb of Bridgeton has not received $500,000 in FEMA funds to help it recover from the 2011 Good Friday tornado.
Kinder chairs an interim legislative committee on disaster preparedness, response and recovery, which agreed today to give SEMA 48 hours to respond.
“The folks in Bridgeton have been extra patient especially given the fact that our friends in Jefferson City at SEMA -- the state emergency management agency -- have had this FEMA reimbursement money that’s payable to Bridgeton for nine going on 10 months,” Kinder said.
FEMA approved more than $800,000 in disaster funds for the city after the tornado tore a 21-mile path of destruction across the St. Louis area.
Kinder says Bridgeton has received about $300,000 of the approved funds so far.
SEMA spokesman Mike O’Connell says the agency received two requests last week that would make up the lion’s share of the remaining disaster fund, and he adds that such requests usually take more than a week to process.
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