The 500-year flood that captivated the Miss-Lou more than six months ago may not have washed away lives or property, but the waters did take millions of dollars in prevention and lost revenue downstream.

And local governments and private businesses are still dealing with those lost dollars — and pending reimbursements — daily.

While government flood preparation and damaged property is eligible for reimbursement through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, private businesses relied on flood insurance or money from their own pockets to pay for prevention and recovery costs after the 61.9 feet of water moved out.

City of Vidalia:

The City of Vidalia received a $684,000 check in August and expects to receive total reimbursement for 75 percent — or $1.8 million — of the estimated $2.5 million it spent on flood prevention and recovery.

President Obama’s declaration of Louisiana as a major federal disaster area in Au-gust allowed for federal assistance for the repair of infrastructure damaged by the levees.

“We saved 400 jobs and $45 million worth of investments,” Mayor Hyram Copeland said of the city’s flood prevention efforts. “It also proved the point that this community will do everything it can to work together to improve the quality of life in our area.”

City Manager Ken Walker said the majority of the money spent was for sand and contractors.

During the flood, the city created and charged all flood-related expenses to a “flood” account.

“We had to provide FEMA with copies of every single purchase-order delivery ticket, time card, checks or any-thing else involved with the flood costs,” Walker said. “We strictly went by the rules and regulations that FEMA required.”

Walker said FEMA has the right to audit any flood related expenses at any time, but the city was very cautious in its preparations.

“If there was any question about it we just didn’t count it,” Walker said. “We’d rather do it right the first time in-stead of figuring out what happened and having to do it again later.”

The federal disaster declaration means Vidalia is eligible for reimbursement for all flood preparations, cleanup and work that may need to be done to repair damage to permanent infrastructure such as pumping facilities or water treatment plants.

The city has sent a $4.5 mil-lion proposal to FEMA that includes dollars city leaders anticipate spending on sub-surface flood damage.

“During that time we had a tremendous amount of seep-age, and that affected our infrastructure like our sewage system and our water system and even some of our streets,” Walker said.

“That’s what we’re surveying now on our buildings, especially on the riverfront, but we could have underlining damage to those buildings and other areas within the city.”

Walker said the FEMA guidelines aren’t tailored for disasters that occur over long periods of time, such as the two-month-long flood.