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• Cleanup cost estimates will focus on public areas such as streets and sidewalks, not on private property, according to FEMA official Ron Pevan. City officials have said cleanup costs will be in the millions.
• "I think our costs to the city are going to be fairly significant," Emergency Manager Regan Smith said. "Any assistance we can get, we definitely welcome, and we want to pursue that."
• If a disaster declaration is issued, FEMA will pay 75 percent of the cleanup cost. The state would pay 10 percent and the city 15 percent. Damage estimates must meet a certain threshold for the state and counties to be eligible for aid.
• Smith said there will be several more weeks of cleanup in Sioux Falls. The city has hired a firm to document the amount of debris being hauled away, which will help in the effort to get federal dollars.
• Pevan said debris cleanup is being handled well.
• "This is an operation that the city should be proud of," he said.
• The cleanup and recovery costs also will include the cost of restoring power lost during the ice storm by rural electric cooperatives and the Sioux Falls Light and Power utility. Repair efforts by Xcel Energy are not eligible under FEMA guidelines. Xcel brought in crews from around the Midwest to get power restored after the storm.
• FEMA has been asked to visit six eastern South Dakota counties -- Minnehaha, Lincoln, Turner, McCook, Hutchinson and Douglas -- and Shannon County in the west, which is home to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The reservation got hit with heavy snow that had to be cleared from roads to provide access for emergency vehicles, said FEMA spokeswoman Cynthia Hunter.
• Pine Ridge can ask for a federal disaster declaration on its own, or through the state.
• FEMA officials expect to wrap up their assessments Thursday. If a disaster eventually is declared, agency officials would return for a more in-depth assessment.
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