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The City of Hancock wasn’t hit as hard as some other areas, but the city is still looking at about $9.7 million in damages from last weekend’s storm.
Hancock City Manager Glenn Anderson gave an update to the city council about their recovery effort at their regular meeting Wednesday.
The overall cost of damages for Houghton County is estimated to be from $80-$120 million.
The city has until 5:00 pm Friday to submit cost estimates to the county and the state of Michigan to be eligible for FEMA funding. FEMA would then come in and verify those findings within the next two weeks. Any damage that is not included in Friday’s figures, whether it was not discovered or had not developed until later, will not be covered by federal funds.
Some funds could be made available immediately, while some could take a couple of years. Roads would be given priority since they have to be done by the time the snow comes in about 17 weeks.
If approved, local municipalities would be reimbursed for most, if not all, of the costs to rebuild. If for some reason, FEMA funds were not approved, Anderson said the most the city could expect from the state is $100,000. The city could still apply for various grants and loans…but would be well short of the money needed to recover.
