The Vanderburgh County Commission held a special meeting on Monday for the sole purpose of extending the Emergency Proclamation.
At the meeting, City and County Emergency Management Agency Director Cliff Weaver said residents need more time to tally the damage from tornadoes and storms.
“We are still looking for damage in Vanderburgh County in Evansville, and this will help the state meet their threshold, hopefully, and if that's the case, it will help everybody that's filed for a declaration.”
The proclamation began the process which makes it possible for residents to receive individual reimbursement for expenses and damage incurred due to this Spring's severe weather activity like tornadoes, and later, flooding.
However, the city and county must hit a dollar-amount threshold to receive state and possibly federal funds to recoup a percentage of personal property damage.
Repair projects must exceed $4,000 and overall amount to $4.72 county per capita, according to Deputy Mayor Lyndsay Snyder.
County attorney Craig Emig said, “the original proclamation included those tornadic events and then the heavy rainfall that resulted in flooding."
“So without an amendment or an adoption or a new resolution, they would not include any potential impacts of storms tomorrow,” he said, referring to anything severe forecasted for Tuesday night.
The proclamation time period started on March 30 and will now extend to May the sixth.