Washington, D.C. – Members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation sent a letter today to FEMA Administrator David Paulison in support of full public assistance to help Wisconsin communities devastated by severe flooding. Full public assistance will be used to rebuild public infrastructure such as dams, roads, and bridges that are vital to the recovery effort. Governor Doyle requested public assistance for rebuilding public infrastructure today for Crawford, Dane, LaCrosse, Richland, Sauk and Vernon counties.

The Wisconsin delegation asked FEMA to act quickly on requests to add eligible counties to the Disaster Declaration. Today, the Governor also requested assistance for individuals in nine additional counties: Columbia, Dane, Green, Grant, Iowa, Jefferson, Kenosha, Racine and Rock. The letter thanks FEMA for supporting Wisconsin communities affected by flooding and urges the agency to act quickly to take into account the full scope of public damage throughout Wisconsin.

BELOW IS A COPY OF THE DELEGATION’S LETTER TO THE FEMA ADMINISTRATOR

The Honorable R. David Paulison, Administrator
Federal Emergency Management Agency
500 C Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20472

Dear Administrator Paulison:

We are pleased that the President quickly declared a federal disaster in Wisconsin and we are grateful for the support FEMA has been able to give affected counties to date. FEMA personnel have worked to get staff in place to help our Department of Wisconsin Emergency Management and local officials assess the damage and understand the process.

With a stretch of dry weather ahead of us now and the beginnings of the individual assistance claims process underway, our attention turns to Wisconsin’s critical need for public assistance. Functional dams, roads and bridges will be vital to the clean up effort and to commerce and businesses as people try to get back on their feet. It is our understanding that the public damage assessments are finishing within the next several hours. We are writing to add our support to the many voices you have heard at the local level to stress the need for full public assistance in our multi-county recovery effort.

In addition, as you know, other counties were affected by continuing wet weather following the President’s initial declaration. The Governor will be seeking to add nine more counties to the original 5 county Disaster Declaration: Columbia, Dane, Green, Grant, Iowa, Jefferson, Kenosha, Racine and Rock were affected by record precipitation – the most rain to fall in a single month since such statistics have been recorded. We support an amended declaration to include them.

Individual assistance is the first step in helping our state to recover but there is a long way to go. We ask that you act quickly on any requests to add eligible counties to the Disaster Declaration and that FEMA take into account the full scope of public damage here so that these Wisconsin communities are awarded all the help they need to rebuild from this multi-million dollar disaster.

Sincerely,

Sen. Russ Feingold
Sen. Herb Kohl
Rep. Ron Kind
Rep. Steve Kagen
Rep. Paul Ryan
Rep. David Obey
Rep. Tom Petri
Rep. James Sensenbrenner
Rep. Tammy Baldwin
Rep. Gwen Moore