WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) sent a letter to R. David Paulson, Acting Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) encouraging him to declare a disaster in Aroostook County due to the recent blizzard that brought 39 inches of snow to the area in a 48 hour period during the last days of December.
“Although Aroostook County residents are no strangers to adverse weather conditions, the recent holiday storm that hit the area was so immense in scale that it put an enormous financial burden on local communities,” said Snowe and Collins in a joint statement. “These communities rose admirably to the occasion to transform treacherous roads into passable ones and prevent power outages. However, doing so strained the limited budgets of these small communities. And in order to ensure that they are able to respond in a similar manner to inevitable future storms, we encourage FEMA to declare a disaster in the County and reimburse 75 percent of communities’ eligible snow removal costs. Given the magnitude of this blizzard, providing anything less would be inappropriate.”
The text of the letter is below:
Dear Director Paulson:
I am writing in strong support of the disaster declaration application that Governor John Baldacci is submitting to FEMA on behalf of Aroostook County, Maine due to a recent blizzard.
Aroostook County is an entity known statewide simply as “the County”, well known for its old fashioned neighborly ways, the tenacity of its residents in times of difficulty, and the willingness and ability to work together as a region when disaster strikes. With over 6,000 square miles, Aroostook County is the largest county east of the Mississippi and is larger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. Moreover, the certainty of winter in Aroostook is equaled only by the uncertainty of individual storms’ strength and path.
Unfortunately for many towns in this northern- most region, the last days of December brought with it 39 inches of snow in a 48 hour period - with freezing rain following. Nothing short of treacherous conditions consumed the area giving way to countless hours of snow removal and ongoing safety treatments to roads that also carried holiday travelers. Aroostook County and its municipalities rose to the challenges of these storms despite their limited budgets. With the ice that followed, the well seasoned public works and utility personnel keenly maneuvered through the maze of hazardous conditions preventing serious injuries to the travelers and power outages to its residents. With a toll on the budgets of these small towns, Governor Baldacci accurately identified Aroostook County for the disaster declaration and is requesting that the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse 75 percent of communities’ eligible snow removal costs. I believe that, given the severity of the conditions and, again, the severely limited local budgets, it is entirely appropriate that the disaster declaration be approved.
I look forward to your expedited review of the disaster declaration for Aroostook County as received by the State of Maine and ask for a favorable decision given the costly effects of the early winter storm event.
Sincerely,
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE SUSAN COLLINS
United States Senator United States Senator