LEOMINSTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Federal workers were in Leominster Wednesday to help residents and business owners impacted by last year’s severe flash flooding apply for newly-approved disaster assistance.
But while money is on its way to individuals, local officials said the city of Leominster will not receive federal dollars to repair flood-damaged public property.
“This is devastating news,” said Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella in a statement after the decision to deny aid.
Flooding rain slammed Leominster and several other Massachusetts communities between Sept. 11 and Sept. 13, 2023. In Leominster — where one storm brought 10 inches of rain in just four hours on Sept. 11, according to city estimates — floodwaters washed out roads and driveways. The water also swallowed cars and damaged buildings.
Crews in Leominster rescued several people and schools were closed for several days.
“This 1000-year storm destroyed one month old sidewalks, freshly paved and striped roads, and even a recently replaced culvert,” Mazzarella said. “It’s heartbreaking.”
Residents relieved as FEMA crews arrive in Leominster
After a request from Gov. Maura Healey, the White House earlier this month approved federal assistance for individuals in Worcester and Bristol counties dealing with the aftermath of the flooding.
On Wednesday, Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster assistant specialists went house to house and set up shop inside Leominster City Hall in an effort to help individuals and businesses access funding.
“It’s a mess still because we haven’t really put anything back together,” said Valerie Martin, whose mother’s home was damaged last September.
Martin shared home video of water bubbling up through her mother’s house.
“She hasn’t put a floor in yet or anything like that,” Martin said. “She can’t afford to do that. She’s living on social security.”
Speaking with 7NEWS, Disaster Recovery Center manager Michael Collins said officials are in Leominster to take applications and assist applicants with damages.
“We’ll send an inspector out to kind of check what damages they had and then see if FEMA can assist them with getting back to normal,” he said.
“They were great, honestly,” Martin said of her experience with federal personnel. “He looked around, took some pictures of the pictures that we had from the flood damage and said we would hear from him within, I believe, seven to 10 days.”
Asked for his reaction, Mazzarella said he is relieved help has finally arrived for individuals who need it but disappointed by the federal government’s decision to not give aid to municipalities.
“We’ve got around $30 million, $30-35 million worth of damage that they’re saying they can’t help us with,” he said in an interview.
Flood damage ‘was not of such severity and magnitude’ to warrant public disaster assistance, FEMA says
The Biden administration’s declaration approving federal assistance for individuals partially reversed an earlier decision by FEMA to deny aid but stopped short of approving assistance to help state agencies and municipalities with some storm-related expenses.
Public aid in Hampden and Worcester counties remained under review, according to Mazzarella and Gov. Healey’s office.
Mazzarella at the time said “this is a major step in the right direction.”
Rep. Jim McGovern said he was thankful for the individual assistance but called on President Joe Biden’s administration “to approve our entire appeal.”
Just weeks later, Mazzarella’s office on Wednesday said officials learned “that a final decision had been made that no funds would be made available for the extensive repairs needed across the city for city property.”
FEMA Acting Associate Administrator for the Office of Response and Recovery Keith Turi explained the federal government’s decision in a letter to Healey.
“The impact to the individuals and households from this event was significant in the areas designated for Individual Assistance,” Turi said in the letter, which was shared by the Leominster Mayor’s Office. “However, based on our review of all the information included in the initial request and appeal, we reaffirm our original finding that the damage to the infrastructure from this event was not of such severity and magnitude as to warrant the designation of Public Assistance.”
Mazzarella said Leominster spent $2 million of city money on temporary repairs “to get our city open again,” after the September flooding.
Despite the final decision, Mazzarella also commended efforts by city officials who worked on federal funding applications, saying staff “worked night and day to try to secure this declaration.”
Following FEMA’s final denial of aid, Mazzarella said 75 sites around Leominster are still in need of repairs, with some projects carrying multi-million dollar price tags.
“Instead of seeking grants and other funds to repair the next projects on our priority list, we will need to try to secure them to repair sites damaged by the flood,” Mazzarella said.
“Many people in our community were left struggling to repair sudden and unexpected damage,” the mayor continued. “On the public infrastructure side, I can assure you that our team will continue our hard work to secure funding to make our community whole again.”
FEMA, SBA representatives also helping residents in Attleboro
Representatives of FEMA and the US Small Business Administration will remain in place at Leominster City Hall Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. indefinitely to help residents apply for disaster assistance.
Individuals can also apply online at DisasterAssistance.gov, by phone at 1-800-621-3362 or through FEMA’s Mobile App.
A separate Disaster Recovery Center is also open at Bristol Community College in Attleboro, which was also hit hard by flooding between Sept. 11 and Sept. 13, 2023. Like Leominster’s center, the Attleboro center is also open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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