CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH REP. MARKKANEN (R-HANCOCK)
Western Upper Peninsula state Representative Greg Markkanen is livid that the federal government has turned down disaster assistance for the spring flood damage suffered in the region. He’s not so happy with Governor Gretchen Whitmer, either.
“You would think that with her connections with the White House, that that would have been approved,” Markkanen (R-Hancock) told RRN News. “Now, MSP Emergency Services has to appeal that, and hopefully, that will come through, but it will be too late in the season for the road commissions to do any work because the snow is going to fall here in another month or so.”
Markkanen says the U.P. needs the same kind of consideration other parts of Michigan receive when they have to deal with natural disasters.
“People forget that we’re still wrapping up damage reapir from the Father’s Day floods in 20018,” Markkanen said. “The ORV trail from Ripley to Lake Linden was wiped out, and it took us a couple of years to get the funding to fix that trail. The DNR didn’t want to touch it, but public outcry was such that we had go to the mat and get the money to get it repaired. I don’t think we’ve got all the money from that (2018 damage) yet.”
Markkanen believes it will take that kind of outcry to get some help for this round of flooding, which caused an estimated $8 million in damage after heavy rains combined with massive spring snow melt. He urges Yoopers to call U-S senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Gary Peters (D-MI) to get their support for an appeal of the FEMA decision..
“Congressman (Jack) Bergman is on board and is doimg what he can, but we need help from Peters and Stabenow,” Markkanen said. “I encourage everyone to give their offices a call and urge them to ask the president to approve the appeal. We really need their support. They could really make a difference by encouraging the president to sign that emergency declaration and get our road commissions the money so we can make our roads safe again.”
Markkinen says Whitmer says the help that has been offered from Lansing has been inadequate.
“I don’t know what the governor is thinking,” Markkanen said. “She threw $550,000 at the Houghton County Road Commission, when they have millions of dollars in damage. And there’s damage in Gogebic County, western Marquette, over in Baraga County, even some in Iron County. The road commissions do the hardest work possible and the governor just totally disregards it. It’s frustrating. The governor can come up here and put on a show at the U.P. State Fair, but when push comes to shove, when we need her to help out, it doesn’t happen.”
Whitmer did declare a State of Emergency at the state level for eight Upper Peninsula counties, and she formally requested federal assistance, which is now in the appeals process through FEMA.
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