MARQUETTE, MI-- State Representative John Kivela is pleased Governor Snyder has finally declared a state of emergency in Marquette County due to frozen infrastructure.
The Marquette Democrat says that paves the way for the county to get state aid.
“It offers up state resources—could be material or equipment—to be used and focused in that area,” he says. “The state then can match up to $100,000 per jurisdiction, that’s the townships, the cities, the county.”
The declaration would also give President Obama the opportunity to declare Marquette County a disaster area, which would bring funding from FEMA to the region. Kivela says that’s very likely to happen.
“It was done back in ’93-’94 twenty years ago when we had a similar situation, although this is significantly worse than ’93-’94. So yeah, we’re optimistic that the feds can step in,” he says.
Repairs have already cost Marquette County $1.6 million.
Officials say they expect the situation to get worse before it gets better.
