With federal disaster assistance approved, Michigan families look to next step in months-long storm recovery
CHESTERFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - With President Joe Biden's office approving a major disaster declaration for Michigan following storms, tornados and flooding from last August, local municipalities are now waiting for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to come to town so they can find out what forms of relief may be granted to their residents.
Chesterfield Township was one city in Macomb County rocked by flooding during that time.
Township Supervisor Brad Kersten says with the acknowledgment from the federal government, residents will have the chance to meet directly with FEMA representatives at the township fire department.
"We will sit down and reevaluate those individuals that made claims of damage from the flood, and will give them an opportunity to present whatever the damage was to the FEMA evaluators that will hopefully take place here in Chesterfield Township," Kersten told CBS News Detroit on Monday.
"We're looking at bringing them (FEMA) back into this building here (Chesterfield Township Central Fire Station) within the township, and if we have to offer two locations or three locations, we'll do that also. The main thing is to allow the residents to come in and sit with FEMA and present their invoices and their bills and their damage assessments to them personally," Kersten added.
A family that says they are more than ready to meet with FEMA, is the Blandino's.
At first glance, their basement now looks like a room under construction. White, primed walls, paint rollers, and brushes. That, however, wasn't the case 6 months ago when the flooding demolished the floor of the home where Jessica Blandino lived.
"I just had a room. I just had a living area. I just had somewhere to sleep. Then all of a sudden, I didn't," Blandino says. She recalls the night she and her mother's lives changed. Back in late August 2023.
"It's definitely been a world shaker. It's been one of those things that you think, this would never happen to me, and then it does," Blandino said.
As she and her loved ones rebuild, the price tag is adding up. She and her mother are hoping for the best when they have the chance for FEMA to come to their home and further assess the damages made.
For now, though, Blandino says this is a huge step as the rebuild continues.
Having salvaged what was left and now looking for places to hang one of her prized possessions, like a hand-painted Marvel heroes mural, back on her wall.
"That was one of the only things I had still standing, and then it wasn't. And so the fact that we were able to save it and that it's going to be able to go back up and that I'm going to be able to fix it and finish it, it's a nice piece of something that's still here," Blandino said.
If your home was damaged during the flooding, applications are available now online for federal assistance.