Lynchburg Prepares For Storm Costs to Impact Budget

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A tree fell on Bill Gorman's home the night of the derecho storm.

"It was as devastating in such a short period of time than anything I could have imagined," says Gorman.

Along with the City of Lynchburg, he spent two weeks cleaning up.

"For something that comes in so quickly and is so devastating, and then you have to rally around what you have, and those guys worked their cans off," Gorman says.

All the hard work and damage has a price tag.

"It clearly will have an impact on our budget," says Lynchburg City Manager Kimball Payne. "We may have to go back to city council and ask for an additional appropriation of funds to cover these costs."

According to Payne, estimates show there is $3 million in damage to private structures, and cleanup has cost the city more than $1 million and counting. Paying for it without help from FEMA could impact future city budgets.

"We kind of have them to bare bones now and we don't want to eliminate any services," Payne says. "So I think we would see a tight budget situation in the next couple of years until we work our way out of this and restore those reserves."

Without FEMA, the city will tap into its contingency fund of $1.2 million and its reserve fund of roughly $14 million. That would put a hole in the budget, in order to replenish the reserves.

"We've done it, and are prepared to continue to do it on our own," says Payne, but he says he hopes some assistance will come their way.