Emerson Announces Task Force for Pemiscot

Emerson Announces Task Force for Pemiscot

U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) today learned that a team of Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel will conduct operations in Pemiscot County to help the area recover from a deadly tornado last month.

Emerson and U.S. Senators Kit Bond and Jim Talent requested the task force be assigned in a letter to FEMA Regional Director Dick Hanje on April 17.

"I'm very pleased with the scope of this response. We will have a task force of eight to ten members on the ground by June 1. These individuals will bring expertise in grant-writing, housing, city building codes, city planning, economic development and other areas. Within six weeks of their arrival, I hope to see a complete plan for our county-wide reconstruction efforts. This area reconstruction will be implemented by a planner who will be hired using an Economic Development Agency grant that was jointly applied for by the city of Caruthersville and Pemiscot County," Emerson said.

The broader message is that no one is forgetting about the people of the Bootheel who have suffered this enormous tragedy. Their road to recovery is going to be a long one, and we are not going to forget about them for a minute or let slip away any resources that could help get these communities back on their feet," Emerson said. "Entire communities were destroyed by this storm. It is going to take our best efforts to undo the damage, and the people hurt by this devastation deserve nothing less."

Over 400 area homes were damaged or destroyed by the F-3 tornado.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/mo08_emerson/pr_060518_taskforceforpemiscot.html