State gets additional federal help for Joplin tornado, flooding

Missouri has received another $47 million in federal grants to help cover the costs of natural disasters that pounded the state over the summer.

The grants, announced today by Republican senator Roy Blunt, include:

• $2 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help finish repairs at Joplin High School, which was destroyed by an EF-5 tornado on May 22;
• $20 million from FEMA for Mercy Health of Joplin to help rebuild a destroyed hospital on a new site;
• $1.3 million from FEMA for the Missouri National Guard to help cover the costs of their deployments during the Joplin tornado and flooding along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers;
• $1.3 million to Mississippi County to repair and replace roads that were damaged when the Army Corps of Engineers blew the Birds Point levee;
• $4.6 million to the city of Charleston (which must contribute a 25 percent share) to repair and replace sewer infrastructure damaged during the Mississippi River flooding.
• $18 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation. $3 million is meant specifically for Joplin, while the remaining is available statewide.

Blunt said he was pleased at the grant announcements.

"When a disaster surpasses the ability of states and communities to rebuild, I believe the federal government should prioritize spending to help the people whose lives and livelihoods are impacted," he said.