Wittman visits tornado site

BEREA — U.S. Congressman Rob Wittman, R-1st District, toured the site of the devastation from Thursday’s tornado in the England Run North subdivision on Saturday in Stafford County.

With emergency operations continuing non-stop, the congressman visited some of the residents who were most severely affected. One of those homes that was reduced to a single story belongs to Alexandria police officer Tim Kyburz and his family.

According to Wittman, Kyburz’s neighbors said he went up and down the street before the tornado struck alerting them to the impending danger.

“He represents the kind of heroes in the neighborhood that kept this from becoming a lot worse,” said Wittman, adding, “There were some amazing heroes.”

With emergency repairs already under way and insurance adjustors and contractors on site, Wittman said, “We can put the houses back together, but what is more important is to be able to help put people’s lives back together.”

Referring to Kyburz, he said, “I assured him that we will be there as a partner with Stafford County.”

“The county has already designated the tornado an emergency situation,” said Wittman, of Montross.

He said the next step in the process is for the Stafford County administrator, Anthony Romanello, to provide damage assessment reports and other necessary data to Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, which should occur in about two days.

“Once documentation is provided to FEMA, they will be able to determine if the resources that have already been expended by the county for the disaster can be reimbursed,” he said. “I have a request into the state asking them to have FEMA expedite the request.”

Gov. Timothy Kaine, D-Virginia, needs the county assessment documents in order to be able to make a disaster declaration.

Based on government regulations, the federal declaration is contingent upon a determination that there has been a sufficient dollar amount of damage to personal property for which residents are not insured. In those cases, FEMA can provide financial resources to those uninsured individuals to enable them to make repairs. FEMA funds can also be allocated for repairs to public utilities.

Marty van Duyne often contributes articles to the Stafford County Sun. Reach her at info@staffordcountysun.com.