FEMA Rejects Wisconsin’s Bid For Disaster Aid To Help With Damages From Extreme Winter

The federal government has rejected Wisconsin’s request for disaster aid, both on its face and on appeal, to help local governments pay for a rash of broken water mains last winter.

Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin Emergency Management applied for the federal disaster declaration after severe winter cold caused millions of dollars’ worth of damage to local municipal water systems.

“We knew this was going to be an uphill battle and we knew this was going to be a difficult task, because federal aid for extreme cold hasn’t happened for almost two decades and it’s never happened in Wisconsin before,” said Tod Pritchard, a spokesman for Wisconsin Emergency Management.

As for why FEMA rejected the request for disaster aid, Pritchard said the letter was short and didn’t go into much detail: “They just did not feel that we gave a compelling enough reason that the state couldn’t cover the damage done to local governments,” he said.

That means local governments across the state had no help with millions of dollars in extra costs because of broken water mains. In the small central Wisconsin town of Thorp, residents were without water for more than a week because of broken pipes and a frozen water tower. Administrator Randy Reeg said they spent an extra $150,000 because of the damage.

“Our water utility was in sound-enough financial condition that we’re going to be able to take this last year’s emergency without any kind of rate increase,” said Reeg. “If it were to happen again this coming winter, that’s a different story.”

Wisconsin Emergency Management said that if the state sees another severe winter wreaking havoc with local water systems, they will consider asking FEMA again for disaster assistance.