Over the past few months, Emergency Services officials have been keeping tabs on damaged areas in hopes that Utah might be able to apply for federal aid. Lt. Doug McCleve, state Division of Emergency Services spokesman, said based on its assessment, the division believes Utah has a good chance of qualifying.

"For the state of Utah, the minimum federal standard for federal relief is $2.3 million," McCleve said. "We believe that we meet the minimum standard based on what we've been tracking and what we've been getting from the counties around the state."

"This would be huge help for Utah, and that's why we're looking at it., tThat's why we're having them come out and determine if we qualify," he said.

Counties will have to jump through a few hoops before receiving money, and it may not come immediately, as Washington County can attest. But several counties have already taken the key step of making a county disaster declaration, including Sevier, Box Elder and Washington counties, and several others are considering following suit, including Utah and Cache counties.

A county disaster declaration signals that all county resources have been tapped to repair the disaster, but further assistance is still needed.

Several counties are still dealing with flooding issues, and have not yet assessed damage. Individual cities have declared disasters as well: Pleasant Grove estimates it has already sustained $482,286 in damage, with more likely to be discovered as 500 North, currently diverting flood waters, is examined.

Though Washington County received federal assistance for January flooding, it is still eligible for more aid from this second round. County Commissioner James Eardley said while the county has again declared itself a disaster area, that step was taken in anticipation of runoff problems, which have been mercifully minimal.

"We declared another emergency about six weeks ago in anticipation of the snowmelt, but we haven't had any additional flooding since January," he said. "We've been fortunate. We've had some very high water, but we have avoided additional flooding."

Eardley expressed relief about the reprieve, as the county still has its hands full from January's devastation.

"We are still recovering from $245 million-worth of damage, both public and private, over 40 lost homes, so we have our work cut out for us here," he said. "There's a lot left to do."

---

E-mail: mdecker@desnews.com