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State gets additional federal help for Joplin tornado, flooding

Mercy Hospital in Joplin, Mo. pictured here on May 23, 2011, following a devastating tornado that ripped through the town.
(UPI/Rick Meyer)
Mercy Hospital in Joplin, Mo. pictured here on May 23, 2011, following a devastating tornado that ripped through the town.

Missouri has received another $47 million in federal grants to help cover the costs of natural disasters that pounded the state over the summer.

The grants, announced today by Republican senator Roy Blunt, include:

  • $2 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help finish repairs at Joplin High School, which was destroyed by an EF-5 tornado on May 22;
  • $20 million from FEMA for Mercy Health of Joplin to help rebuild a destroyed hospital on a new site;
  • $1.3 million from FEMA for the Missouri National Guard to help cover the costs of their deployments during the Joplin tornado and flooding along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers;
  • $1.3 million to Mississippi County to repair and replace roads that were damaged when the Army Corps of Engineers blew the Birds Point levee;
  • $4.6 million to the city of Charleston (which must contribute a 25 percent share) to repair and replace sewer infrastructure damaged during the Mississippi River flooding.
  • $18 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation. $3 million is meant specifically for Joplin, while the remaining is available statewide.

 
Blunt said he was pleased at the grant announcements.

"When a disaster surpasses the ability of states and communities to rebuild, I believe the federal government should prioritize spending to help the people whose lives and livelihoods are impacted," he said.

Rachel is the justice correspondent at St. Louis Public Radio.