Globe flood recovery: FEMA denies major disaster declaration for Arizona community

GLOBE, Ariz. - The city of Globe is often right in the path of heavy rains during the monsoon season. It is a community that was devastated last fall by historic floods, and now they have had more bad news, as the federal government is denying a major disaster declaration for the area.

Local perspective:

The Globe Antique Mall along historic Broad Street downtown is nearly unrecognizable from last fall, when Tyler was unsure she would ever reopen. Instead, the shop is back open with more vendors than before and plans to purchase an adjacent building.

"I’m surprised that we’re open right now. I mean with all the damage and debris," Globe Antique Mall owner Brenda Tyler said. "We still have about a dozen people but right now I don’t have the space."

Owners Tyler and her partner, Roger Dahling, have worked through $200,000 worth of damages from the flooding, and while they have plans to expand, right next door to the antique mall, two buildings had to be torn down due to the damage from last year’s flooding.

"We’re also looking in the Jesse Hayes Road area where homes were destroyed," Globe Mayor Al Gameros said. "I think there’s five homes that are going to be taken down there."

What we know:

Funding to rebuild will not be coming from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA recently denied the state of Arizona’s appeal for a major disaster declaration, claiming the flooding event was not severe enough to warrant the declaration.

"I don’t know what would then," Gameros said. "We’re talking about three deaths in the storm. You’re talking about millions of dollars of damage."
Tyler expressed similar frustration with the decision.

"Disgusted," Tyler said. "Totally disgusted that it was declared a disaster area, and yet they’re not going to do anything about it."

By the numbers:

Gameros says the federal funding would have helped with 15% of the $96 million in estimated damages, and gone toward a buyback program for residents and tax credits for businesses.

"Initially, after this flood occurred, we had a number somewhere around $30 million, $33 million," Gameros said. "And that was the number out there. Our deadline to submit the final paperwork wasn’t until December 28, but they denied it on December 23 before the deadline was due with all the paperwork. So we ended up with a number around $96 million. So we appealed the initial denial and that’s what this process has taken throughout these months, all the hours and time again, to meet the requirements, and even the visits we had here, we remained hopeful for it."

While city staff await a detailed explanation for the denial, work has nearly wrapped up on a $21 million U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded project along Pinal Creek designed to help prevent flooding in the future.

"They’ve removed roughly 50,000 cubic yards of sediment from the creek and just in time for this rain that’s coming through," Gameros said.
Mayor Gameros says progress will continue.

"There’s obviously other avenues that we can pursue and our staff is actively pursuing those and see what our options are for the future," Gameros said.

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