HOUGHTON, MI-- The state says it will cover the entire FEMA match for Upper Peninsula counties damaged by flood waters, and U.P. officials are breathing a bit easier.
June flooding caused $30 million of damage in Houghton, Menominee, and Gogebic counties. Governor Snyder’s office said it would cover half the 25 percent local match, then decided to cover the entire amount.
Kevin Harju is with the Houghton County Road Commission. He says paying even half the match would have been difficult.
“Either by taking additional loans out or putting off construction projects and other needed repairs throughout the county,” he says.
The road commission is trying to have the majority of primary roads open by the first or second week of December.
Harju says state assistance means $4 million the county can put toward other projects.
“It does help us plan more for next summer for the remainder of the repairs, having that money,” he says.
