PIKEVILLE, Ky. – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has finished its assessment of damage caused by the weekend flooding. The $5.2 million benchmark needed to qualify as a federal disaster has been reached, and likely doubled.

 “I predict the total damage assessment will be over $10 million,” Pike County Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford said. “I have made over 16 declarations during my career in public office and this one is the worst of them all. We will double what is required.”

 As soon as President Obama declares the federal disaster a new stage in the process will begin.

 “The emergency phase of the process will be cranking down and the recovery process will soon begin,” Rutherford said. “There are good and bad parts involved with all of this; the bad part is the devastation and loss and suffering this flood has caused the people of Pike County and the good part is that we have been through this so many times we are able to work swiftly to get things done.”

 Part of the recovery process that has already begun is Rutherford’s formation of the Pike County Housing Advisory Committee. The purpose of the committee is to find temporary and permanent housing for those displaced by the flood.