Senator Stabenow In Houghton With FEMA

Houghton County desperately needs funding from the federal government to recover from the devastating storm that hit Father’s Day weekend.

To speed up the process to get that funding, Senator Debbie Stabenow toured the damage Monday and got a first hand look at the destruction and the impressive community effort that followed.

“There’s been so much repair work that’s been done and everybody cares about everybody and is helping, and that’s the powerful piece that I’m most impressed with,” Stabenow said.

Representatives from FEMA are also arriving to assess the damage in hopes that Houghton County will get a federal disaster area designation.

Stabenow said, “We need to have FEMA give their declaration. They’re in. They’ve come in record time at our urging to do an assessment. We’ve got to find out what their assessment is and that will tell us what’s available through FEMA.”

Stabenow says she will also do what she can to make sure federal grants and loans are made available to help with infrastructure, road, and bridge reconstruction.

“I’m going to do everything humanly possible to get the resources that are needed. There’s an awful lot of damage that has been done here that’s going to take a lot of funds to be able to rebuild the roads and the water and sewer systems and fix all this up,” Stabenow said.

Stabenow also said she wants people to know that the Keweenaw is still open for business and that people should not cancel their vacation plans to the area.