NORFOLK
They peered into ponds of standing floodwaters. Over piles of soggy, discarded mattresses and carpeting. They spoke with residents who said they had lost everything - food, clothes, furniture - and had no place to live.
Groups of federal and state emergency management officials took it all in during a tour of Norfolk on Tuesday as they attempted to further measure the damage caused by last week's nor'easter.
The groups are canvassing Hampton Roads this week to determine whether the state should be declared a federal disaster area.
If it is declared a disaster, local cities could be eligible to be reimbursed for the costs of handling the storm, and residents who've suffered damage might be able to submit financial claims to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
But first comes the accounting.
Since Friday, Norfolk crews have been assessing - and putting a dollar figure to - citywide damage. The latest numbers Tuesday reported 677 affected buildings - a total of nearly $26 million in private losses and $5 million in public property damaged. The beaches in Norfolk suffered an additional $10 million to $15 million with the destruction of dunes and erosion, code official Lynn Underwood said.
On a tour of Willoughby Spit, one of the city's most hard-hit neighborhoods, federal and state officials met people like Samantha Hart, a formerly homeless woman who moved from a friend's house into her own apartment in February. Water rose so high in Hart's one-story duplex that she had to escape through a window, she said. Most of her possessions are ruined.
"My life came into order when I got this place," she said. "I hope they're able to assist me."
On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously passed an ordinance declaring that a state of emergency has existed in Norfolk since Thursday.
The ordinance was necessary for Norfolk to be eligible for federal money, should the state qualify for aid, City Manager Regina V.K. Williams said.
Williams said the city has spent about $3 million in overtime and other costs dealing with storm cleanup. She is hoping the federal government will compensate the city for some of those expenses.
The city got some backing Tuesday, when Sen s. Jim Webb and Mark Warner said they had urged FEMA to grant federal disaster assistance to 16 localities in Virginia, including Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Hampton and Newport News.
Pilot writer Harry Minium contributed to this report.
Meghan Hoyer, (757) 446-2293, meghan.hoyer@pilotonline.com
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