Frustrations are mounting in Southbury as the town has yet to receive any federal assistance for the damage sustained during last summer’s devastating floods.
More than 15 inches of rain fell on the area in a matter of hours, destroying roads, bridges, homes and businesses. The floods claimed two lives in Oxford.
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WATCH HERE“We’ve been having biweekly meetings with FEMA and to date, we haven’t received any funding yet for the damages that we put in for,” said Dan Colton, finance director for the town of Southbury.
Colton estimates, when all is said and done, the total cost of repairs will be between $5 million and $8 million. FEMA would reimburse 75%.
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SIGN UP If the federal funding doesn’t come through, the town will be in a tough spot.
“It would be an impact ‘cause we’d have to go out and borrow the funding to cover the damage repair … so there would be a debt service payment, which would impact our budget,” Colton said.
Since the floods, most roads and bridges have been repaired or replaced, except for one on Old Field Road.
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The town’s library had some of the worst damage and remains closed. Colton estimates it will reopen in November.
“It severely damaged the basement with up to five-six feet of water and destroyed all the systems. Basically, anything you can think of to keep the building going,” said Heather Aronson, the head librarian.
Aronson and her team have been temporarily working at the Heritage Hotel where people can still access the library’s books and other services.
“First, we were in a few rooms at the town hall, the staff was all in one little room planning all the programs, going out and doing things, trying to process books. We had things in our cars, in our homes, all over the place,” she explained. “So, we’re extremely happy to have the library at the Heritage Hotel right now. They have been very, very gracious to us.”
The town pays month-to-month for that space, and applied for that cost to be covered too, but Colton said FEMA denied their application.
“Our FEMA application was for $36,000 and it was denied,” he said. “We were hoping that they would have approved that given that the library’s such a critical space for the town. They said that libraries are unfortunately not covered. Educational facilities are. Our argument back would be that it is an educational facility for us.”
The town will pay for the space using its general fund if the federal money doesn’t come through.
Aronson said she’s remaining optimistic.
“I’m used to staying positive, I didn’t have much of a reaction because I trust that the process takes time,” she said. “The most important thing is that we get to see people again, and people get to see us, and we get to make sure people have access to books.”
A FEMA spokesperson responded to NBC Connecticut with a statement on Thursday:
“FEMA has been working diligently with our partners at the state and local communities like Southbury to move forward with the reimbursement process, and has provided nearly $2.8 million to the state so far. With respect to reimbursing Southbury for a temporary library location, FEMA rules clearly forbid it, but we have informed the town of their right to appeal the decision.”
