A member of the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors sought to clarify a rumor Tuesday night that is circulating questioning the county’s efforts in obtaining Federal Emergency Management Agency funding following the April 16, 2011 tornado.

At-large supervisor Louise Theberge said during the meeting in the colonial courthouse that there is a rumor floating around the county that staff failed to apply for the FEMA funds. "This county and its staff did apply and did it well," Theberge said.

However, Gloucester failed to meet the minimum threshold of damages to receive the federal aid.

Representatives from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, FEMA and the Small Business Administration toured Gloucester County May 2, 2011 to conduct a damage assessment.

That damage assessment was done to determine whether Gloucester had met a certain threshold in monetary damages so that Gov. Bob McDonnell could recommend applying for the federal funding.

Based on that damage assessment, Gloucester County did not meet that minimum threshold, and therefore, McDonnell was unable to recommend Gloucester be included in the federal funding.

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