FEMA cuts Macon funds

Residents in and around Macon are still cleaning up from a series of deadly tornadoes that ripped through the area in May. Now the federal government says there will be less money for that cleanup.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is deducting 130-thousand dollars from the amount it will pay the city. Officials at FEMA say Macon still owes them money from the Flood of 1994.
That flood came as a result of Tropical Storm Alberto and was the worst disaster in Macon's history. The city was without water for more than two weeks. FEMA says Macon did not properly document some expenses during the flood.
The cleanup for the so-called, Mothers Day Tornado's, that killed three, could cost Macon as much as 3-million dollars. FEMA will pay about 80-percent of those expenses, minus the 130-thousand dollars.

Georgia officials hunting "storm-chaser" contractors

One of the results of the EF-2 tornado that plowed through Macon on May 11th: a resident salvages belongings in a demolished building in the city's business district. (Josephine Bennet)

The State of Georgia is cracking down on “fly-by-night” contractors who don't take proper care of their workers.

The State Board of Workers' Compensation arrested several subcontractors in Macon and the Bibb County area this week.

The collars are part of a sweep to enforce state laws requiring employers to insure their crews.

Stan Bexley heads the board's enforcement division:

“As a result of the sweep thus far, we've had five criminal warrants issued, three arrests have been made and seven premium fraud cases have been opened for further investigation.”

Bexley warns homeowners to watch out for so-called “storm-chasers,” who arrive after bad weather, do shoddy repairs with substandard parts, and then take off without guaranteeing their work.

SBWC officials are focusing on areas that were hard-hit by a string of tornadoes on May 11th that caused several million dollars in damage.

More information is available at the SBWC website.http://tiny.cc/aB1bT.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the damages caused by the tornadoes.

Macon tornado clean up continues

Scenes of the tornado cleanup in Macon: a wood chipper grinds through debris, as a backhoe digs through hills of fallen trees nearby. (Josephine Bennet)

Macon Mayor Robert Reichert is urging residents to be patient. Nearly two months after an F-2 tornado crisscrossed its way through the city the cleanup continues.

Original predictions by the Federal Emergency Management Agency underestimated the amount of debris left by the storm. Reichert says 250 truckloads a day are being brought to a large dump site located near a paper mill operated by Graphic Packaging. The paper mill is recycling some of the debris. FEMA regulations say all trucks must be weighed and counted.

"We've got thousands of dump truck loads to gather up and bring here. Thousands of them. Each load has to be monitored to be sure that it is filled and appropriately packed because FEMA regulations require that the loads be monitored."

The mayor says it will be up to 60 days before they are finished. He says some of the wood waste is being turned into mulch. That mulch will eventually be available free of charge to residents.

Original estimates put the cost of debris removal at 1.2 million dollars. That figure is expected to rise.