On April 01, 2017 President Trump signed a Major Disaster Declaration due to the February 1 to February 23 winter storms in California. The museum suffered two major areas of damage from the February storm. Society President Steve Habeck has submitted a Request for Public Assistance (RPA) to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The two areas included in the request are the public entrance road to the museum and approximately one-quarter mile of the balloon track starting at Malfunction Junction.

Update August 13, 2017 - Steve Habeck reported at the August 12^th Board Meeting our RPA has been approved. This is the first step in the process to get help for the storm damage. Steve also reported the city's request was also approved.

Additional information about this disaster is available at PDF copy of www.fema.gov/news-release/2017/04/02/federal-aid-programs-state-california which is no longer available on the internet.

The following is from the FRRS President's report for the Board of Directors January 2018 meeting:

I have concluded our dealings with FEMA regarding the flood damage issues we endured during last year's atmospheric river flooding events. After many months of paperwork, meetings, E -mails, and many hours s pent on them, we were determined to NOT be a critical industry under the guidelines established, and our application was denied. We could start over by applying to the Small Business Administration for possible assistance, but FEMA felt that this was a long shot. I filled out and sent the cancellation form, and opted not to go to the SBA. (By the way, the City of Portola's claims to FEMA were also denied; they had far more damage documented than we did). I want to thank the FEMA rep in Redding that we were dealing with; he was very helpful, honest, patient, and gave good advice