Miami-area tornado yields $9 million for residents miles away.

Publication: South Florida Sun-Sentinel (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service)

Bookmark this article Print this article Link to this article Email this article Digg It! Add to del.icio.us RSS

COPYRIGHT 2005 South Florida Sun-Sentinal

Byline: Sally Kestin

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ A tornado destroyed two dozen homes in the Liberty City area of Miami-Dade County in March 2003 but barely caused enough damage to qualify for federal aid, emergency management records show.

When the county received a federal disaster declaration about a month later, a mayor's aide wrote a congratulatory e-mail to a colleague: "Hundreds of people most in need are going to benefit."

Those hundreds turned into 6,651. Of the $14.5 million approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, $9 million went to residents up to 37 miles from the reported damage.

"I'm appalled," said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Barbara Carey-Shuler, whose district includes...

Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.