© UnknownGov. Robert Bentley.
Out of the 72,000 people who have applied, 20,600 have received notice that they aren't eligible for a grant -- almost twice as many as have received FEMA grants so far.
FEMA has encouraged anyone who suffered damage from the tornadoes that touched down April 27 to apply to the agency. According to the agency, many of the applicants found ineligible could still receive aid. Some were initially rejected because of incomplete information or due to pending insurance claims. FEMA cannot, by law, duplicate benefits paid by insurance companies, but in some circumstances can help with damage or expenses beyond insurance coverage.
The FEMA application process also puts the applicant in the pipeline for other federal aid, such as low-interest loans from the Small Business Administration, which are available to homeowners and businesses.
Bentley said people should read the full letter and contact FEMA with questions. The agency's federal coordinating officer, Michael Byrne, has agreed to revise the letter, Bentley said.
"The first sentence should not say you have been turned down, especially when you are hurting and you've lost everything," the governor said Friday. "That is my disagreement, but let me tell you Mike Byrne has been nothing but gracious."
Bentley, a retired doctor, advised that FEMA should adopt a better bedside manner, with a little understanding of Southern manners.
"You cannot write a letter in Washington and make that letter fit an elderly couple in rural Alabama who has had their home blown away," Bentley said. "They (the letters) can say the same thing, but you need to say it the right way."
As of Friday, nearly 10,700 people had received a grant from FEMA and it had dispersed $45.3 million. Byrne, who joined Bentley at a press conference Friday, urged anyone receiving a letter to call FEMA with questions or visit one of the agency's 31 disaster recovery centers around the state.
Beyond taking issue with the letters, the governor praised the partnership between state and federal agencies in response to the historic tornado outbreak. "I believe this recovery has been very smooth," Bentley said.
His office, he said, will work with FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers to clean up the massive amounts of debris in the state's lakes and waterways, particularly at hard-hit Lake Martin.
"We expect this to get started very quickly," Bentley said. "The governor's office will lead the cleanup of the lakes and make them safe again."
Bentley also commented on debate in some municipalities about whether to allow the manufactured homes provided by the state and FEMA for storm victims in their towns. The state will make housing resources available but will not force them on towns where they are not allowed, he said.
"Those are local issues," Bentley said. "If their city says they do not want that and their rules and regulations prohibit that, we are not going to step over that line as the state and require them to do that."
In other tornado-related news:
In response to a Birmingham News inquiry, Alabama Power said it will waive the connection fee and deposit for storm victims when they move into temporary quarters and when they move back into rebuilt homes.
The Birmingham Water Works said it also will waive its $30 re-connection fee if a customer is moving back into a repaired or rebuilt house. Spokeswoman Binnie Myles said storm victims could still be subject to a $25 transfer fee if they establish a new account elsewhere but that will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Alagasco spokeswoman Susan Delenne said the utility will waive its reconnection fee.
The FBI said it is investigating reports from East Tennessee of scam phone calls from a foreign number requesting banking information that was purportedly "lost" due to an outage in a financial institution's computer system during the recent severe weather.
According to the FBI, an automated female voice asks victims to key in their banking account information in order to re-establish their account with the bank. While there have not been reports from Alabama, the local FBI office asked people to be aware and that anyone with information regarding storm-related fraud should call the Disaster Fraud Hotline at 1-866-720-5721.
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