Senator Peters Views Flood Damage For Himself

While the federal government is deciding whether to declare Houghton County a disaster area, local municipalities have a powerful ally in their corner.

US Senator Gary Peters toured the damage done to the county during the June 17th storm and was impressed with the recovery work already done.

“But now we enter the phase where some of the more complicated work has to be done and it’s very expensive and we’ve got to make sure we stay on it. That’s what I will do from my position in the Senate in Washington,” Peters said.

Peters met with the county officials before viewing the damages in Houghton, Ripley, Hubbell, and Lake Linden.

Peters is a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee and is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management.

That is the subcommittee that holds jurisdiction over the Federal Emergency Management Agency…commonly referred to as FEMA.

That puts Peters in key position for influencing how federal relief dollars are spent.

Peters said, “It certainly gives us a vantage point in working very closely with FEMA. We’ve got to see once a disaster declaration has been made to make sure FEMA is doing everything they can to help the community here and certainly I will use my oversight function to stay on it everyday.”

Houghton County is still waiting to hear from the federal government on a possible disaster declaration.