PONTIAC - Rose Keith's voice started to shake. She said the Pontiac home she and her husband, Jim, had lived in for 21 years was among those flooded in January, and they can't move back in. | Floodstock raises relief money

A half inch of mud is still on the floor and the stench of mold is overpowering. It is currently not possible for them to fix their home, and they are staying at Jim's parents.

"It's not fair," she said. "It's the river that did it, but it's still not fair of what we have to go through because of the help that is not being given to us.

"It's not fair that we all have to be in the same place at the same time, but we will all get through this together."

Keith's story was among several told during a news conference at the Pontiac City Hall Council Chambers on Monday afternoon as officials from Pontiac, Iroquois County and Watseka expressed their outrage at the federal response to deny a disaster declaration. All areas were inspected by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Small Business Administration and various local officials a week after the flood.

Based on numbers given to federal officials by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a federal declaration was denied last Wednesday, citing "the damage was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments," a letter to Blagojevich from FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison said.

Local officials think otherwise.

"The City of Pontiac, the City of Watseka and the County of Iroquois are in a world of hurt," Pontiac Mayor Scott McCoy said. "We are not asking for the assistance to pay for this on a municipal level, we are looking for individual assistance to help us get back on our feet."

McCoy said that the numbers of affected homes in reports done by FEMA and IEMA were inaccurate and the denial was "due to grossly underreported numbers."

FEMA playing politics?

"We are all very angry," McCoy told The Associated Press Monday evening. "They simply didn't see all the damage."

McCoy also claimed FEMA overlooked a state that tends to be politically Democratic. President Bush, who oversees FEMA, is a Republican.

"I think politics comes into play into everything we do," he said.

FEMA spokeswoman Jean Baker on Tuesday disputed McCoy's contention that politics played any role in FEMA's response and said federal officials visited every site that local and state officials asked them to.

"The (FEMA) team leader asked, 'Have we seen everything that you wanted us to see,' and they said yes," Baker said.

Further, Baker said, state and local officials asked for and received two FEMA teams and FEMA officials spent four days doing their inspections and were not, as McCoy said, driven out by bad weather.

McCoy said that there was no way the FEMA team could have completed its assessment in the amount of time given.

A local assessment

The rejection has prompted Pontiac, Watseka and Iroquois County to work together on their own assessment, and to have it completed by the end of the week.

The new assessment began last Thursday and Ted Horner, former mayor of Watseka and acting disaster coordinator for the city, said that numbers already have significantly increased. The original report indicated that 64 homes had major damage in Watseka while Horner said the real figure was nearly triple that - 191 homes - from the 299 already inspected.

Pontiac's numbers have also risen substantially, McCoy said, although specific numbers have yet to be released.

Pontiac officials will also be in contact with IEMA representatives today for possible assistance, McCoy said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.