Monroe County and 13 other counties were included in an expanded state disaster proclamation due to severe weather in Illinois that occurred June 29 through July 2, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Monday. 

On Tuesday, Pritzker announced counties in the disaster area may also request waivers of penalties and interest on state taxes if they cannot file their returns or make payments on time. They are eligible to request a waiver of penalties and interest for income, withholding, sales, specialty, and excise taxes.

“My administration stands with communities across the state in the work to recover from recent severe weather,” Pritzker said. “To continue to support those impacted, I have signed a broader disaster proclamation to mobilize every available resource, accelerating the recovery process and providing relief for our residents.”

Last Monday, both Monroe County Public Safety Director Kevin Scheibe and Columbia Mayor Bob Hill expressed hopes Pritzker would amend an original state disaster proclamation to include Monroe County in order for funds to become available for Columbia and surrounding areas, which sustained significant storm-related damage June 30.

Both the Monroe County Board of Commissioners and Columbia City Council passed disaster proclamations July 17 in order to officially begin the process to bring disaster funds to the area in the event the state expanded its original proclamation. 

Scheibe said as of July 13, the county had spent $188,000 just with helping in Columbia and the associated work conducted by the Monroe County Highway Department. He added over $300,000 has been spent so far for “public assistance” related to storm recovery efforts.

Monroe County Engineer Aaron Metzger later added that 56 county residents requested debris pickup, which two highway department crews accomplished over the course of three days.

As of last Monday, Hill said Columbia had incurred over $180,000 in unbudgeted expenses related to the storm.

In addition to damage to homes, vehicles and trees due to the wind, downed power lines resulted in disruption to commercial and residential service in the Columbia area for several days.

Power was restored to most of the affected area by late evening July 3.

With Monroe County now included as a state-recognized disaster area, businesses, residents and government agencies affected by the storm may receive state funds to help pay for cleanup efforts, damaged property or loss of business revenue. 

“County emergency management agencies continue to share damage assessments with our recovery division from each of the affected communities,” said Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau. “These damage reports allow us to verify and validate information which shows an increase in communities who were impacted by the severe weather on June 29 through July 2.”

Based on reports received by the IIEMA-OHS, local resources and capabilities in the communities hit by these storms have been exhausted, and state resources are needed to recover from the effects of these severe storms.