WILTON — The Wilton Public Works Department, along with the Water and Sewer Department, have submitted their estimates for the cost of damages from the brutal storm that swept the state on Monday, Dec. 18.
According to Public Works Forman John Masse, the deadline to apply for emergency assistance from the Franklin County Emergency Management Agency was Wednesday, Dec. 27, and the department had filed.
In total, Masse stated his damage assessment from the storm came to roughly $18,000. “We lucked out,” he told the Livermore Falls Advertiser.
Masse went on to say that the areas of town that are usually heavily affected by rain were the primary focus and they did not have much beyond those areas.
“Butterfield Road got hit pretty hard,” he added.
Over at the Water and Sewer Department, Interim Water and Wastewater Superintendent Dalton Plante stated the department had submitted its damage assessment of approximately $17,520.
The total accounts for emergency pumping, damage, erosion and equipment run time. According to Plante, the generator at the water department ran for approximately 74 hours to keep the power going. The sewer department went offline for only six hours, he added.
Plante stated the biggest ticket item was a lost pressure maintaining vault, which contains seven 95 gallon bladder tanks that control the water pressure in a neighborhood. When asked how long before things get back to normal, Plante was optimistic on the time frame.
“So far, so good,” he said. “We are not quite at 100%, but we should be back to relatively normal business by the week’s end.”
Despite state offices closing on Monday and Gov. Janet Mills declaring a state of civil emergency for every Maine county except York and Cumberland on Tuesday, Dec. 19, the Wilton Board of Selectpersons was able to convene and discuss preliminary assessments.
Selectperson David Leavitt asked Town Manager Maria Greeley if there were any major washouts, to which she responded a few. She did not specify which areas, but stated that Public Works Foreman John Masse was aware of the washouts and had communicated them to the town office.
She reported that all roads, as of their meeting that evening, were open. “No roads are 100% closed,” she stated. Selectpersons Keith Swett and Mike Wells gave kudos to Wilton Fire and Rescue and the Public Works Department for their response to the washouts and the flooding.
Over in Farmington, it was reported in The Franklin Journal that assessment of the total cost of damages was still under way.
“At this time we are still collecting information from our local partners,” Sara Bickford, deputy director of Franklin County Emergency Management Agency, said Tuesday, Dec. 26. “We are still assessing at this time.”
Gov. Janet Mills announced on Tuesday, Dec. 26, she will formally request a Major Disaster Declaration from the federal government if Federal Emergency Management Agency decides the costs of damage from last week’s storm are beyond what the state can handle.
The announcement also came with the launching of the Maine Flood Resources and Assistance Hub, a website that will provide links to Maine Bureau of Insurance resources on flooding and storm-related insurance claims, directions for reporting storm damage to the state, road closures, and information about how to safely deal with tree debris.
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