WISCONSIN — More than $26 million in federal aid was denied Friday for Wisconsin communities still recovering from historic flooding that devastated the region in August.
READ ALSO | Glendale mayor details $230K flood cleanup bill while awaiting FEMA funds
The White House rejected Governor Tony Evers' request for federal public assistance funding for four southeastern Wisconsin counties, leaving local governments to shoulder massive repair costs on their own.
The flooding prompted Evers to send President Donald Trump a formal request for federal financial help 18 days after the disaster for both individuals and local governments affected.
Milwaukee County, the state's largest county, requested more than $20 million to repair significant infrastructure damage. Waukesha County asked for more than $2 million in assistance.
Thomas Harrigan is the village manager in Elm Grove, which is in Waukesha County. It's one of the four counties in southeastern Wisconsin included in Evers' federal proposal for public assistance, which was denied Friday.
"For most people very startling, it's not something you expect to wake up to at 2 in the morning," Harrigan said.
Watch: Local leaders echo the need to appeal Trump Administration's denial of federal public infrastructure funding
Elm Grove continues to deal with damage like sinkholes that remain unfixed months later.
"To not have that financial support, which is something you would expect, especially from the federal government, we all pay taxes, at least you're supposed to, and here we are without that additional support, so it's very disheartening," Harrigan explained.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said he was extremely disappointed by the decision.
"I was extremely disappointed, you know, again, I commended the Trump administration because I thought we were putting politics behind us and making sure communities can recover," Crowley said.
While FEMA has approved more than $139 million in individual assistance for homeowners, renters and business owners, elected leaders had hoped to see similar assistance for community infrastructure projects, but are now left to appeal the decision.
If the appeal fails, local officials face the prospect of finding alternative funding sources. Crowley warned that the denial will significantly delay recovery efforts and force difficult budget decisions.
"Well, this is again going to really set us back, and this is gonna create a longer timeline for us to recover and get to a place of normalcy," Crowley said. "We're going to be making some really tough decisions as it relates to our own programs and services. And so there's no way Milwaukee County, and quite frankly, I don't think any county across this state that has been impacted by these floods will be able to recover on their own."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
