Indiana Appeals Denial of Flood Money

Indiana is appealing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s denial of assistance to governments in 13 northern counties hit by flooding earlier this year.

Department of Homeland Security spokesman John Erickson says individual residents who applied for aid have already begun receiving payments.

But the department sent a letter to FEMA asking the federal agency to reconsider its decision last month to deny aid to the governments in Benton, Carroll, Cass, DeKalb, Elkhart, Jasper, Kosciusko, Marshall, Newton, Noble, Pulaski, Starke and White counties.

State officials say the flooding that began Jan. 7 damaged more than 800 homes and caused more than $33 million damage. President Bush approved federal disaster aid for residents in the area roughly from Lafayette to South Bend and Fort Wayne.