Where the money will come from

Help to repair damage to the extent of millions of dollars in Minot and the area will come from at last five national agencies, four of which are federal.

Grants for the repair of public facilities will be made to about six townships, Ward County and the city of Minot through the Office of Emergency Preparedness, which has set up an office in the Armory.

For damaged schools, the Office of Education, an agency of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, will underwrite the cost of repairs.

Homeowners, apartment dwellers, and businessmen who suffered flood damage qualify for low interest loans from the Small Business Administration, which has established quarters in the former Minot Federal Savings and Loan Association building on Central Avenue West. Churches, like businesses, qualify for loans up to $100,000.

The Veterans Administration will give assistance to home owners with VA loans.

For those unable to qualify for help from other sources, the Red Cross, through its national organization, will help people repair their damage.

By May 5 the Red Cross, from headquarters at Minot High School, had spent $29,800, $12,000 in local funds, to help flood victims, largely for shelter and food, in the form of surplus commodities, according to George Wallace of Wichita, Kan., director of area disaster relief operations.

Wallace is unable to estimate yet what total area help will cost the Red Cross, but he indicated that a survey, while revealing no destroyed dwellings, showed major damage to 400 homes and minor damage to 1,810.

Wallace emphasizes that he has no idea as to the amount of the need, until people actually apply for help.

He said his office now has 455 cases, with 141 other persons who have requested applications.

In addition, the Red Cross has served 258 families by supplying them with surplus commodities or with information on other agencies which provide help.

Dean Straub of Fargo, in charge of the local SBA office, while unable to make any precise estimates, went along with a previous SBA report that at least 1,000 loans to repair home and business damage would be made in Minot and that the total would probably be as high as $3 million. Using the above estimates, the average loan would be around $3,000.

Surveys were underway this week by the Office of Education to ascertain actual damage to Minot schools, which has been estimated at around $225,000, including $150,000 at Ramstad Junior High and $75,000 to plumbing facilities at McKinley, Perkett and Lincoln. Sunnyside and Roosevelt, in the flood zone, suffered no damage.

City manager Vernon Fahy said until recession of flood waters and completion of surveys it would be impossible for him to estimate damage to public facilities in Minot, which an OEP regional representative, Harold Knott of Denver, has placed at $1,280,000 or more.

Damage to roads and eight bridges, which were washed out, has been roughly estimated at $100,000 by Charles Truax, Ward County superintendent of Highways.

OEP also will work through the county for the repair of roads and bridges in townships, where the damage is expected to be as high as $150,000.

With the declaration of the city and county as part of a disaster area, both qualified for OEP grants to clear debris, restore damage to health and sanitation facilities, streets, roads, bridges, drainage facilities, public buildings and facilities and for the removal of dikes and levees.

Truax pointed out, however, that road projects under the Federal Aid System do not qualify for OEP grants. Help to repair those roads, which include Route 12 on the northeast outskirts of Minot, and Route 19, southeast of the city, will probably come through the Bureau of Public Roads and the State Highway Department, according to Truax.