FEMA to pay more than $1M for Santa Clara flood

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Washington • The Federal Emergency Management Agency will offer more than $1 million in aid to help cover damage caused by a Sept. 11 flood in Santa Clara.

Heavy rains triggered a deluge in the Washington County city and breached a dike on a retention pond, causing some $3 million in damage, officials said. FEMA said Friday that the $1 million payment is three-quarters of its share of the damage due to the failure of the Laud Retention Dam.

The total doesn't include repairs to the dam itself that will be covered by FEMA, the agency said.

"The Santa Clara flood shows that flooding can happen anywhere," Gary Stanley, FEMA's federal coordinating officer, said in a statement.

FEMA says its total contribution to fix the damage is expected to more than double after dam repairs are completed.

Thomas Burr