The storm damage documentation checklist for local governments

Disaster documentation is easiest to defend when it begins with the response, not weeks later. Use this checklist to capture the basic facts while supervisors, locations, and source records are still available.

Before the storm (do this now)

• Know your per-capita threshold. Have your population and the current FEMA per-capita math ready so you can tell, in real time, whether you're tracking toward a declaration. (Here's how the threshold works.)
• Have one reporting link ready. Residents will be your eyes across town. A single link they already know beats a scramble.
• Pre-identify your crews and equipment. Know which trucks map to which FEMA equipment rates before you need to log a single hour.

During the storm (the first hours)

• Declare the event. Anchor everything to a named incident with a start date. Every cost, photo, and report should stamp to this event so it doesn't get mixed with routine work.
• Corroborate with the National Weather Service. Capture the relevant NWS alerts as objective evidence of when and where the weather hit.
• Log labor and equipment as it happens. Record who worked, when, and on what. Keep equipment operating time separate from standby time; FEMA generally applies equipment rates to operating time, with limited exceptions in current policy.
• Photograph everything, with location. Before-and-after where possible. A photo without a location is much weaker evidence.

For debris work specifically

• Record legal responsibility and location. Debris removal on public rights-of-way may be eligible when it meets program requirements. Private-property debris removal has additional public-interest, legal-authority, right-of-entry, and approval requirements.
• Write a haul ticket for every load. Record the truck, the load size (cubic yards), the material, and the disposal site. The debris manifest is one of the first things auditors scrutinize.

For purchases and contracts

• Log every emergency purchase. Sandbags, rented generators, materials — item, vendor, cost, and the justification for buying it the way you did.
• Follow procurement rules even in an emergency. Exigency doesn't mean "skip the rules." Document quotes where required, and run a SAM.gov debarment check on any contractor before you pay them with federal money. Paying an excluded contractor can disqualify the entire cost.

A supervisor's memory is not a source document. Tie each claimed cost to the event, the eligible work, and the payroll record, invoice, ticket, photo, or equipment log that supports it.

After the storm

• Assemble the package. Pull labor, equipment, materials, contracts, photos, and the debris manifest into one organized submission per event.
• Capture donated resources. Eligible volunteer labor and donated equipment may count toward the non-federal cost share, but only when the work and valuation are documented and accepted.
• Submit your Preliminary Damage Assessment to the county/state quickly while the evidence is fresh.

Turn the checklist into a workflow

A checklist still needs a place to put the records. In Pin311, staff declare the event, connect reports and time logs to it, record purchases and debris loads, and review the supporting material in one Disaster Packet.

Start free and run one practice report before the next storm. That is enough to show your staff where the record begins.

Official references

• FEMA Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide, Version 5 (amended)
• FEMA Preliminary Damage Assessment Guide
• SAM.gov exclusions

This checklist is educational and does not replace declaration-specific guidance from FEMA or your state, tribal, or territorial emergency-management office.