Disaster-Struck Cities Fight for Aid as FEMA Runs Low
- FEMA is stretched thin as number of big disasters pile up
- Massachusetts mayor warns others to ‘lower those expectations’
Train tracks from the Fitchburg Line over an area washed out by flooding in Leominster, Massachusetts on Sept. 13, 2023.
Photographer: Robert F. Bukaty/AP PhotoA once in 200-years storm dumped 11 inches of rain over four hours on the central Massachusetts town of Leominster in September, washing away culverts, creating a sinkhole that swallowed cars at a dealership and flooding the city council chambers with sewage.
Damages to public infrastructure in Leominster exceeded $24 million, but the federal government denied a request for reimbursement to fix everything from dams to sanitation mains, and rejected Governor Maura Healey’s bid for a major disaster declaration for impacted counties in the center of her state. And last month, Healey said the US Federal Emergency Management Agency turned down her appeal.