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Healey appeals after FEMA denies request for disaster relief for September flooding
The flash flooding caused more than $35 million in damage in Leominster alone, the city said after FEMA’s denial last month.
Gov. Maura Healey is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reconsider a major disaster declaration following devastating flooding — especially in Leominster and North Attleboro — in September.
Despite what local and state officials said was catastrophic flooding in Leominster and North Attleboro, FEMA denied the state’s request for federal assistance to support rebuilding where September’s storm hit hardest.
Healey is appealing FEMA’s decision, the state announced Tuesday. She wrote that the need in the communities that are still rebuilding since September’s flooding is beyond Massachusetts’s current resources.
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Communities in Worcester, Hampden, and Bristol counties saw more than 10 inches of rain from Sept. 11 through 13.
Healey declared a state of emergency on Sept. 12, as dams threatened to break, sinkholes swallowed cars, and part of Route 2 was under water. All in all, the flash flooding caused more than $35 million in damage in Leominster alone, the city shared after FEMA’s denial last month.
“These storms were devastating for our communities,” Healey wrote to FEMA and President Joe Biden. “I saw the impacts firsthand – homes and businesses were destroyed, roadways and bridges were inaccessible, and some residents had to be evacuated.”
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In their denial, FEMA said the flooding wasn’t severe enough to warrant federal assistance. In her appeal, Healey said they didn’t consider certain costs and should reevaluate.
“Our communities must know that both their state and federal governments understand the severe challenges and stress they are facing, and that we are here to help,” Healey wrote to FEMA.
Last week, Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella wrote that the city had submitted their own documents for the appeal, worked with a consultant to organize city and homeowner data, and has been in touch with federal lawmakers.
“In the end, we will have left no stone unturned in our attempt to secure funds for repairs,” Mazzarella wrote.
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