UPDATED: Governor Formally Requests Disaster Declaration

Governor M. Jodi Rell wrote to President Barack Obama Friday requesting a major disaster declaration for Fairfield and New London Counties battered by severe storms in March. Today she expanded her request to include help for individual homeowners and businesses for those counties along with Middlesex, New Haven, and Windham counties.

In the Friday letter, Rell defines as a single related weather event the March 13 nor'easter, which downed countless trees and cut off power in New Canaan and surrounding towns for days, and the March 29-30 rainfall, which caused record-breaking flooding and shutdown highways in southeastern Connecticut.

The governor writes that after touring New Canaan and other disaster-struck areas during the week of March 29, representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS) confirmed that losses and expenses in Fairfield and New London counties met the threshold for public assistance—a survey put the initial public sector tally at nearly $11 million.

The governor's total for New Canaan so far is $296,200—$250,000 for debris clean-up, $25,000 for repairs to town buildings (mostly at the Lapham Center and the Nature Center) $6,200 to pay for the emergency response, and $5,000 for road and bridge repairs.

The disaster declaration would release federal aid to cover such costs.

In today's update, the governor asked for aid through the Individual Assistance Program to help eligible individuals and households who have uninsured losses. A state survey has found 1,315 damaged homes with losses worth about $5.3 million, and 116 damaged businesses with losses of another $5.4 million.

Local officials have identified 25 houses with minor damage (estimated at an average of $5,000) and three with major damage (averaging $100,000) in New Canaan.

The governor also today asked for federal Small Business Administration loans to be made available to employers in the five affected counties.

Rell already launched an unprecedented state loan program for urgent building repairs and replacement of critical appliances damaged by the storms. Offered at 2 percent interest, loans of up to $20,000 are available for fixes to basements, foundations, roofs and insulation, up to $7,000 to replace furnaces, and up to $750 for hot water heaters. Information on the program can be found at www.chif.org.