CORINTH – Several Alcorn County roads severely damaged by May 2 flooding may not qualify for repair funding through the federal emergency declaration.

Supervisors discussed the prospect Thursday, and asked that some of those roads be re-evaluated by the Mississippi Emergency Management team that is working with supervisors to write up their damage projects.

Third District Supervisor Jeff Rencher expressed outrage that federal rules might disqualify reimbursement for a major road in his district, County Road 409 in Rienzi. Repairs might have to be paid fully out of his district budget, yet other roads throughout the county not as heavily traveled will receive federal assistance.

“I’ve already repaired the roads in my district,” Rencher said, but stressed that how the road is listed should not deny him the funding.

Under the federal disaster declaration, roads that qualify for federal aid or state aid funding are not eligible for reimbursement unless all counties in the disaster event suffer damages totaling at least $700,000, MEMA representative Cort Meredith told the supervisors.

There are roads throughout the county that may be designated as qualifying for federal aid or state aid, but which have never received any work through a federal or state aid program, said county engineer Ricky Newcomb.

Other county roads disqualified for consideration in the federal disaster reimbursements are C.R. 200 and C.R. 418.

Meredith and project specialist Arland Whitlock gave supervisors a brief summary of what to expect in the process of reviewing their requests.

After several layers of approval projects that cost less than $62,300 should be reimbursed in 60 to 90 days from the May 14 disaster declaration date, Meredith said, and he will conduct inspections of completed work before reimbursements are approved.

Checks from the Federal Emergency Management Agency covering 75 percent of the cost will be sent to the state, which will add its 12.5 percent and send the total amount back to the county.

Projects estimated to cost more than $62,300 generally take longer, and it is not unheard of for some reimbursements to take as long as six months, Meredith said.

Contact Lena Mitchell at (662) 287-9822 or lena.mitchell@djournal.com.