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Newport officials outline flood recovery plan, FEMA application and community relief steps
Summary
City leaders described ongoing recovery from September flooding, announced FEMA public assistance efforts, emergency purchases and local relief including business grants and a new recovery coordinator.
Newport city officials on Tuesday gave a status update on recovery from the Sept. flooding, saying the city has begun the FEMA public-assistance process, has recorded emergency purchases made during the response, and is coordinating local relief for flooded residents and businesses.
City leaders said they have filed an initial recovery scoping meeting with FEMA to begin documenting damages and projects eligible for reimbursement and that the city has about 18 months to complete projects submitted to FEMA. Officials said street-department cleanup work is expected to be at least 75% reimbursable and in some cases could reach 100%, but other categories may not be eligible.
The update said the city received equipment valued at about $65,000 — described as boats, trailers and related gear — through prior grant work and awards that concluded just before the flood. City leaders also described a local relief partnership that has distributed roughly $250,000 in grants to about 30 businesses, with the majority of those awards around $8,000 each. Officials said residential assistance applications are in progress, with about 80–90 residential applications in the pipeline.
Why it matters: The city is balancing immediate recovery actions — clearing streets, repairing facilities and housing displaced operations — with longer-term FEMA project submittals that determine how much of the costs will be reimbursed.
Officials confirmed the police department remains temporarily housed outside city hall while the city obtains an expert assessment of whether the old police facility can be rehabilitated. The city said some cleanup and rehabilitation work may be eligible for partial reimbursement but that a formula for how much would be reimbursed is not yet available.
Monica Hovall, who city leaders said has prior emergency-management experience, has been named to coordinate Newport’s recovery efforts. Hovall told the council the city has started the recovery scoping work FEMA requires and urged council members to forward questions to staff as projects are documented.
City staff also announced operational adjustments to shelter and warming services. The community center, previously used as a warming station when temperatures drop, is currently hosting police operations and is therefore unavailable for warming-station use. Staff reported they are negotiating with a Methodist church on Lincoln Avenue to host a warming station and said a tentative agreement and in-kind assistance are under discussion.
Parks and recreation staff and the mayor asked the council to support a short-term food drive to benefit the Bread Basket food pantry, which staff said lost inventory in the floods. The drive will accept donations at the community center at 426 Cosby Highway through mid-December and city officials plan to present collected donations to Bread Basket director Trish Clapper on Dec. 23; the city also said it will invite local school clubs to participate.
Officials described how outside donations were handled: because the city’s comptroller’s rules limit the city’s ability to accept and re-distribute private gifts directly, donations were routed through a local relief partnership that has managed funds and distribution. City leaders named local philanthropic supporters and private donors as contributors to that partnership but said the city and county placed funds into the partnership to remain compliant with financial controls.
What was directed: Council members were provided a written list of emergency purchases made without prior council approval because of urgent needs; the mayor said those purchases were being placed in the public record and that council members could ask questions about individual items.
Context and next steps: Officials said the city will continue documenting costs for FEMA reimbursement, pursue potential grant and philanthropic support for recovery projects, and move forward with assessments of city-owned facilities. Staff said they will return to council with more specific estimates, project lists and any required ordinances or contract approvals as work proceeds.
