LOUDON COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) -- There are 58 counties in the state of Tennessee that were declared a disaster and can get federal aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Loudon County is not on the list and residents are wondering why.

"We're just as important as Knox County and Sevier County," said Paul Abston, who was affected by flooding. "We're not a major tourist destination, but It's important to the Vicars family. It's important to my family. It's important how hard we worked to have what we have."

A home was nearly submerged in water, cars were floating in a repair shop parking lot, water was taking over basements and still there's no funding for Loudon County residents.

"I'm really trying to figure out how the damage was calculated," said Abston.

Paul Abston, a Loudon County resident, said there was 5 feet of water in his basement and his neighbors lost their entire home.

"It's not a blocked covert that keeps you from leaving home for 2 days," said Abston. "It's a total loss of people's houses and impacted their livelihood and their kids. I have a couple of teenagers and it's impacted all of us."

The EMA director of Loudon County said FEMA won't help because there's a specific rule.

"The definition they have for threshold requires 25 homes to be destroyed for major damage and we do not meet that threshold," said Loudon County Emergency Management Director Daryl Smith. "It's absolutely killing our residents who need assistance."

Neighbors are now hoping the county can fix this cave that's supposed to drain the water when it rains. They said this would take away their worries of losing everything they own.

"We understand you can't turn the clock back, but we'd like to turn the clock forward," said Abston.

Residents can only get relief from the community or their own pockets.