In a letter this week, the Minnesota congressional delegation urged the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide additional financial assistance to the state and undertake a full review of the procedures it relied on in developing its estimate of the damages from severe weather and widespread flooding in the spring of 2019 in Minnesota.
Historic snowfall, ice and melting snow caused widespread flooding and significant infrastructure damage across the state in the spring of 2019, affecting at least 51 counties and four tribal nations. After a preliminary damage assessment of $40 million, FEMA later finalized the damage assessment at $76 million, almost twice the original assessment and requiring additional state resources.
“Minnesotans are resilient and have demonstrated their ability to come together to respond to and recover from weather disasters through the partnership of the federal government,” the letter stated. “It is for this reason that we ask FEMA to provide additional financial assistance to the state and undertake a full review of the procedures that it relied on in developing its estimate of the damages in Minnesota so that similar situations can be prevented in the future.”
In May 2019, the delegation sent a letter urging the administration to issue a major disaster declaration to assist communities in Minnesota recovering from severe weather including historic snowfall, ice and melting snow that caused widespread flooding and significant infrastructure damage across the state. The request was approved in June 2019.
The Minnesota congressional delegation includes Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, as well as Reps. Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn.; Angie Craig, D-Minn; Dean Phillips, D-Minn.; Betty McCollum, D-Minn.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Tom Emmer, R-Minn.; Collin Peterson, D-Minn.; and Pete Stauber, R-Minn.
