https://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Towns-to-seek-federal-help-after-storm-ravages-12935261.php
Towns to seek federal help after storm ravages greater Danbury
Published 12:00 am, Wednesday, May 23, 2018
BROOKFIELD — As crews finish repairing the most significant damage from last week’s massive storm, towns are scrambling to figure out how to pay for their share of cleanup.
Brookfield, New Fairfield and Danbury are among dozens of localities across the state hoping to receive aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
After storm damage closed countless roads and knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes, Brookfield and New Fairfield and parts of Danbury were declared disaster areas, the first step in obtaining federal aid. President Trump will also need to rule the towns as disaster zones for the communities to be eligible.
Brookfield First Selectman Steve Dunn declared a town disaster on Tuesday night, shortly after the storm hit.
“It became very clear we were going to have very large expenses in managing the cleanup of this disaster,” Dunn told selectmen and the Board of Finance at a meeting Monday night.
The damage will cost Brookfield at least $2.5 million, but that is only a rough estimate by the public works department based on how much the town spent after Hurricane Sandy, said Greg Dembowski, who has been named Brookfield’s FEMA coordinator.
The estimate does not cover damage to state roads or to private property, nor the costs of additional police, fire and mutual aid services, he said.
Twenty town departments are filling out forms to determine how much they spent because of the storm. The forms are due to the state by May 30, Dembowski said Monday night.
New Fairfield and Danbury officials are compiling the same information, but they do not yet have cost estimates, officials said.
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said the city suffered no damage to public buildings, but crews were still working to restore power to more than 100 customers on Tuesday afternoon.
In New Fairfield, more than 150 crews worked around the clock Monday and Tuesday on downed trees and wires in some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in the state, First Selectman Pat Del Monaco said. Eversource restored power to more than 1,500 town residents overnight Monday, but more than 300 were still without electricity Tuesday afternoon.
“We have a long road ahead of us,” Del Monaco said. “We’re getting close to having power to everyone and roads are passable now, so we can get our children back to school and get to work on our FEMA application. But in terms of long-term restoration, it’s a long way off.”
Another 100 crews were at work Tuesday in Brookfield but more than 200 customers were still without power as of late afternoon.
In Brookfield and New Fairfield alone, crews have replaced more than 600 broken poles and almost 85 miles of wire.
Students will return to school in Brookfield and New Fairfield on Wednesday, but Brookfield students still affected by outages will be excused, officials said. Brookfield schools also are adjusting some bus routes for the remainder of the week.
The emergency shelter at New Fairfield High School will be open from 4:30 p.m. until 7:45 p.m. Wednesday for showers, but it will not serve meals, the town announced. The senior center on Route 37 will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. but also will not serve meals.
Both Brookfield and New Fairfield are asking residents and business owners to send photos of damage, as well as receipts and other documentation showing how much they have spent or will need to spend on repairs.
Brookfield residents should send their information to storm2018@brookfieldct.gov and New Fairfield residents should email nfstormdamage@newfairfield.org. Danbury residents should submit their information on the city’s website. Anyone who submits should provide their address and a description of the damage sustained.
“That will make a much stronger argument when we go to FEMA,” Dunn said.
FEMA aid could cover 75 percent of the cleanup cost and the money could be dispersed to residents.
“The best thing you can do now, Brookfield, is report everything,” Dembowski said. “Take pictures, receipts and save everything. We’re collecting everything we can. We’re going to throw it up on the wall and see what sticks.”
If Brookfield receives the hoped-for help, it plans to pick up debris at individual homes, which the town did after a previous storm.
In Danbury, where the northern portion of the city was declared a disaster area, Boughton said the city does not plan to pick up debris from individual homes because it does not expect to be reimbursed for those costs.
For now, Brookfield residents should bring debris to the brush yard near the fire department. Residents should not drag their debris to the edge of the road because this will disrupt utility companies’ work.
But Dunn acknowledged that many people, such as the elderly, cannot get to the brush yard.
“This is a massive problem in the town and we have to clean this up,” Dunn said.
