Flint get federal disaster declaration and assistance

Moore referenced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in calling on state lawmakers to consider removing Snyder from office.

In a photo from January 2, 2016, Rabecka Cordell picks up a case of bottled water outside the fire station in Flint, Mich. “We both have lead poisoning, ” said Cordell, who learned that two weeks ago from her doctor.

Other Flint residents late previous year filed a federal lawsuit.

Fresh water and filters will now be shared out across the city.

“I think they work”, Ellard said.

President Obama declared the ongoing water-supply crisis in Flint, Michigan, a federal emergency on Saturday, opening up FEMA support and federal funding to help tackle the city’s lack of access to clean and safe drinking water, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Other celebrities have made even harsher calls for action. But the damage to the pipes has already been done, and the leaching of lead into tap water continues.

An official announcement from the White House said the president “ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions in the area affected by the contaminated water”.

FEMA has been authorized to identify, mobilize and provide equipment and resources necessary to alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the contaminated water in Flint and avert the threat of a catastrophe.

Before then, residents had complained of discoloured water, bad smells and headaches and rashes from using the water from the city’s new supplier. More important, it is thought to be the cause of high levels of lead that have been detected in the water and in the bloodwork of Flint children.

The city switched its water source from the city of Detroit to the Flint River in 2014. In addition, the political ramifications have arrived on the national political stage, as Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has called for Governor Synder to resign over his handling of the crisis. The state Department of Environmental Quality acknowledged it should have added corrosion-control chemicals to the water to help treat it. The head of the department and his spokesman resigned.

A state-appointed task force preliminarily found that fault lies with the state DEQ, and on December 29 director Dan Wyant stepped down.