Gov. Dannel P. Malloy this week filed an appeal with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reconsider its decision denying individual assistance to homeowners in New Haven and Fairfield counties who suffered losses from severe storms on May 15.
Malloy also is asking FEMA to reverse its decision denying public assistance to Bridgewater, New Milford, and Roxbury in Litchfield County.
FEMA last week approved Malloy’s request for public assistance for New Haven and Fairfield Counties, allowing state agencies and municipalities within those counties to apply for federal aid that will help pay for some of the costs incurred on public property as a result of the storms.
The agency, however, declined the same request for municipalities located within Litchfield County as well as a request to allow individuals living in those municipalities as well as in New Haven and Fairfield Counties to apply for federal assistance.
“While I am grateful that part of our request for federal aid was granted, we are appealing the decision to deny assistance to homeowners and to those towns in Litchfield County that also sustained significant damage,” Malloy said.
U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro also weighed in this week saying there remains “a glaring need for assistance for homeowners.”
“I stand ready to fight when the state appeals FEMA’s decision to deny individual assistance, and I urge homeowners with uninsured or future costs to submit those costs to their towns to help create a stronger appeal,” she said.
Meanwhile, Senator Richard Blumenthal met with New Milford leaders this week to discuss the federal government’s decision to deny assistance to the three communities in Litchfield County damaged by the storm.
Blumenthal, according to the Danbury News-Times, said the entire Connecticut congressional delegation is joining forces to advocate for the additional money for the Litchfield County towns and for individual assistance. He and other members are gathering evidence to appeal before FEMA.
Blumenthal also joined Hamden Mayor Curt Leng at a press conference calling for FEMA to reverse its decision saying it was an “arbitrary and unacceptable denial of aid for homeowners.”
The National Weather Service said that four tornadoes touched down in Connecticut on May 15 during a storm that also included several damaging macrobursts.
One tornado traveled along the ground in Winsted for nearly a mile, uprooting trees and causing minor structural damage to some homes. Another struck the Barkhamsted Reservoir without causing damage. A tornado also touched down in Southbury and Oxford and another near Hamden and Beacon Falls.
The Brookfield area was hit by a macroburst with winds in excess of 100 mph.
