OMAHA- Omaha officials expect to apply for federal disaster aid after weekend flash flooding collapsed some sewers, sent vehicles sailing into one another and pushed water into east Omaha businesses and homes.

The city has been tracking its expenses related to the storm and working with the Douglas County Emergency Management Agency to determine whether it can apply for the funding, City Engineer Todd Pfitzer told the City Council on Tuesday.

“We do anticipate at this time we’ll meet the threshold for a federal application,” Pfitzer told the council.

Few other details about the potential disaster declaration were available Tuesday. Paul Johnson, director of the county emergency management agency, was unavailable.

The weekend storm would be the second one of the summer to prompt federal disaster dollars. In July, Omaha officials said they would pursue a federal disaster declaration after a hurricane-force windstorm downed trees and power lines across the city, knocking out power to 188,000 Omaha Public Power District customers.

For the full article click HERE