The first cost estimates for damage sustained during HurricaneGustav in early September are being calculated for Lincoln County’sefforts to recover unforeseen emergency expenses from the federalgovernment.

Dungan Engineering, PA Civil Engineer Ryan Holmes said his firmestimates a cost of slightly more than $200,000 to repair flooddamage to roads, culverts and bridges in seven locations on fivecounty roads. The $200,000 total is lower than initialestimates.

The Lincoln County Board of Supervisors will bid out the repairprojects, and the work must be completed before the final costs aresubmitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency forreimbursement.

Holmes said the damage sustained on Bogue Chitto Road,Jackson-Liberty Road, Topisaw Road, Windmill Road and Zetus Road isnot heavy, but must be repaired to maintain the safety of theroads.

“I wouldn’t characterize any of it as major damage,” he said.”It’s just damage that we need to repair.”

Holmes said most of the damage was cause by floodwaters erodingthe support material from beneath culverts and bridge abutments,which could cause small sinkholes in the roads if culvertscollapse.

The structures will be steadied with additional fill material,he said. None of the bridges need to be replaced.

Holmes said the estimates were made using the most up-to-dateprices for material and construction costs. The detailed,three-page estimate submitted to supervisors Monday should allowquick action in bidding out the jobs.

“We jump on things,” Holmes said. “We came up with some verygood estimates – I’d say they are very close to what the work willcost.”

County and FEMA officials are still inspecting other damages inthe county.

Lincoln County Civil Defense Director Clifford Galey, whom theboard appointed as the applicant’s agent – basically the county’sFEMA liaison – Monday, said FEMA’s project officers have beensteadily inspecting county damage expenses.

“They’re reviewing all the time sheets, equipment records andgoing around to all the locations we say were damaged and takingpictures,” he said. “They’re compiling all the work and writing uptheir project worksheets now.”

Galey said the main damages the county aims to claim with FEMAare the operating and overtime expenses incurred for hurricanepreparation, evacuee shelter security, debris removal and waterdamage sustained to the Lincoln County-Brookhaven GovernmentComplex, Lincoln County Jail and the jail’s kitchen.

Like the road repair projects, the water damage repairs willlikely be bid out to contractors. Cleaning up the debris – which,in many cases, is still piled up on roadsides throughout the county- will probably be handled in-house through a new FEMA pilotprogram that allows local governments to use their own equipmentand employees rather than hire a contractor.

Also like the road repairs, all the debris cleanup and waterdamage projects must be completed and tallied before the receiptsare submitted for reimbursement.

“We have to get everything fixed before we talk aboutreimbursement,” Galey said.

The amount of time it will take to repair all the HurricaneGustav damage, submit the reports to FEMA and receive reimbursementis unknown. Lincoln County still has not received its finalreimbursement for damage incurred during Hurricane Katrina in2005.