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On August 13, 2018, Governor Doug Ducey declared a State of Emergency in the Town of Mammoth for flood damage caused by severe monsoon storms that hit the Town at the end of July. This emergency declaration makes the Town eligible for state public assistance funding managed by the Arizona Department of Emergency Management and Military Affairs (DEMA).
This series of monsoon storms caused damage to roadways and was directly responsible for multiple water pipeline breaks that occurred over several days immediately following the storms. The Town experienced frequent and extended water outages during a series of cascading water line breaks in sections of old pipe in the lower part of Town that were further weakened by the saturated ground. In order to insure the health, safety, and well-being of all residents, the Town appealed to Pinal County and the State of Arizona for emergency financial assistance. Mammoth declared a State of Emergency on August 6, 2018. Pinal County supported the Town’s declaration by issuing their own emergency declaration on August 7, 2018.
The Town’s drinking water system is currently safe and operating normally, thanks to the hard work and long hours from the Public Works Department following the storms. Recent sampling results from early August show the water meets all drinking water standards.
State assistance for recovery from a declared emergency is a reimbursement program that pays 75% of the project cost. The Town is responsible for the remaining 25%. The program has specific requirements regarding what damage is eligible for repair and what kind of repairs can be made. Only damage caused by the late July storms is eligible and only an “in-kind” replacement is allowed. This particular grant does not pay for improving or redesigning the existing facilities, though it does allow certain upgrades to bring antiquated facilities up to current codes and standards. In Mammoth’s case, the existing water pipes are eligible to be replaced with the current standard drinking water pipe, which is much stronger than the pipe that is currently in the ground. The Town will be reimbursed from the State for money that the Town has already spent to temporarily repair damages immediately following the storm. Additional grant money will be used to permanently replace the sections of water pipelines that experienced multiple breaks after the storm, and to permanently repair sections of roads that were damaged during the storm.
During early August the Town met with DEMA representatives for several days to perform a preliminary damage assessment. The work consisted of compiling a list of sites that were damaged during the storm event and estimating the cost to perform repairs. After an emergency is declared, the damage assessment is the next step in the process to receive state assistance. Now that the Governor has declared an emergency, over the next several weeks the Town will be working with AZDEMA and the Pinal County Department of Emergency Management to develop the project worksheets, along with the scope of work, schedule, and cost for the project. The Town will have 1 year to complete the permanent repairs.
In addition to the DEMA grant, the Town is seeking funding from other sources to help recover from the storm damage. Work is underway to apply for a USDA emergency grant that can also provide funding for repairs related to this storm event. There are other funding sources available for pre-disaster mitigation, flood mitigation, and hazard mitigation through a variety of State and Federal programs that are being considered. These programs go beyond merely repairing damage and could actually provide money to upgrade the Town’s facilities. Successful mitigation projects can potentially prevent extensive flood damage from occurring in the future.
And finally, the Town is working on permanent, long-term solutions to address the problems with the drinking water distribution system and the roads. While these are much longer term projects that will cost a significant amount of money, Town leaders are fully committed to finding the funding and theresources to renovate the Town’s aging infrastructure.
If you have any questions or would like additional information, please call Town Hall at 487-2331 or attend a Town Council Meeting, normally scheduled on the third Thursday of every month. The Town website is also a good source of information, townofmammoth.us.
There are news or informational items frequently written by staff or submitted to the Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner, Superior Sun, Pinal Nugget or Oracle Towne Crier for inclusion in our print or digital products. These items are not credited with an author.
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