Oregon Public Broadcasting

Clackamas County failed to get federal emergency money to help clean up flood damage from this month's storms. And officials are blaming the reluctance of other Oregon counties to ask for the same relief. 

Clackamas estimated it suffered more than $2.5 million of damage to public infrastructure. That didn't even come close to the threshold required to get federal money.

Tim Heider  is a spokesman for Clackamas County. He says if other counties had submitted requests, the threshold would have been lower, and everyone would have been more likely to get federal money.

Nevertheless, Heider says chances are good that Clackamas County will get reimbursed for damage from the December snowstorms.

Tim Heider: “As you may remember, that was the storm prior to Christmas. We’re still gathering assessments, but there are at least six or seven other counties that declared snow emergencies - federal emergencies - so we’ll probably hit that threshold.”

Heider says Clackamas County officials are meeting with the Federal Emergency Management Administration Thursday  to start the process for the December storms.