FEMA to Evaluate Fairfield County Damage

Violent storms caused enough damage to Fairfield county to bring in the feds to Connecticut to consider providing some disaster relief.

For federal help, the damage estimates had to exceed $4.39 million in damages statewide and at least $2.85 million in damages in Fairfield County.

Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security preliminary estimates exceeded that amount, so state and federal emergency management officials will meet in Hartford on Monday to begin conducting joint damage assessments.

If the assessment meets or exceeds the necessary amounts, Rell can request a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration, which would make the state and certain counties eligible for supplemental federal assistance for uninsured expenses caused by the storms.

Counties might be eligible for individual assistance, which provides financial assistance to eligible individuals and households who have uninsured losses, Rell said.

“There is little doubt in my mind that FEMA will see what I saw: a region battered by a storm more severe than any in recent memory,” Rell said. “Thousands of trees were damaged or uprooted, hundreds of homes and cars were damaged and nearly 100,000 people were left without power – some for as long as six days after the storm. Communities from across the area have already reported significant costs and losses.

FEMA will send damage assessment teams to meet state officials early Monday morning at the Emergency Operations Center in the William A. O’Neill Armory in Hartford.

The teams will visit the hardest-hit areas, mostly in Fairfield County. Rell expects they will visit Bridgeport, Darien, Fairfield, Greenwich, New Canaan, Norwalk, Stamford, Stratford, Westport and West Haven.

Costs covered by insurance will be deducted from damage estimates, Rell said.
 

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