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06/19/2018 12:00 AMWith a town-led cleanup effort to collect storm debris from neighborhoods hard hit by the massive storm that brought a tornado through the region last month, officials are urging patience as the clean-up—and the determination of who will pay for it—will be a slow process.
The town is seeking Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding to aid the effort. First Selectman Mike Freda said FEMA officials were in town with two teams last week, one assigned to the Public Works Department to review the storm debris still on peoples’ lawns and streets and the other to examine the nearly 40 homes damaged in the storm.
“This week’s FEMA visit was an assessment,” Freda said last week. “Compiling all the data and FEMA will be combining that data with other municipalities that were affected by this tornado and then there will potentially be a declaration of either ‘There will be no funding’ or ‘There will be funding.’”
The May 15 storm was part of a system that crossed the state in the early evening and, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), spawned four tornadoes, the largest running a 9 ½ mile path from Beacon Falls to Hamden. The storm caused extensive damage to the northeastern section of town, but the worst damage focused on the northwestern section near Sleeping Giant State Park, which was officially in the path of the tornado. A week after the storm, 500 homes were still without power.
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, Freda said the Public Works Department opened up a 14-acre plot for residents to come deposit storm debris and, starting June 11, the town began a debris pick-up process.
“We will help those residents with storm debris within the town 10-foot right-of-way from the curb,” Freda said last week. “I have the fire chief and the public works director managing the process and starting this week we are picking up debris street by street. We have all the streets mapped out that were affected by the storm.”
A list of streets was available on the town’s Facebook page along with an email for residents to send the names of more roads they think need to be seen to by the town. While Freda said the town will do its best to help those in need, residents need to be aware that this process could take some time.
“This process of storm debris pick-up, I am doing this because I want to help the residents who are in dire straights right now, but it will be done as part of an overtime model,” he said. “Once public works completes its other activities and core service, then they will get to this, so that is why it will be a long process.”
In addition to a lengthy timeline for the cleanup, the whole process could have significant associated costs. Since the work is being done on overtime and the town has to pay not only for the pick-up, but also the disposal of the debris, Freda said the whole process could cost anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million. The town has applied for FEMA funds, but the town likely won’t know if it has been chosen to receive funding until the end of the summer and, if approved, it could still be up to a year before the money is actually released to the town.
Freda said these costs are not in the budget, so he is going to have to look very carefully at different budget lines and keep an eye on the cash flow as the cleanup continues. Even with no certainty of a FEMA reimbursement, Freda said he knows he made the right call in authorizing this debris pick-up service.
“I had to make a decision on whether to wait on this to see if we would be reimbursed from FEMA, but I have decided that we couldn’t wait because I have to help the residents,” he said. “I have authorized it being done to help the citizens of North Haven who are in dire need.”