Michigan governor requests support from FEMA in Flint’s drinking water crisis

Members of the Michigan National Guard are headed to Flint to help dole out bottled water, filters and other supplies to residents dealing with a drinking water crisis that began months ago.

According to the governor’s office, “this request will identify federal agencies that have programs, authorities, and/or technical expertise that could be utilized in the ongoing response and recovery efforts in Flint to be made available”.

The National Guard has been called in to help out in a MI city which is suffering a water crisis.

Rick Snyder has requested support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help with Flint’s drinking water crisis.

Gov. Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency last week in Flint after a test of 2,200 blood tests turned up 43 children with elevated lead in their blood, NBC News reported.

And yet, bills have been issued, money is being collected, in a city where 40% of the population lives below the poverty line, where the water hasn’t been drinkable, and where residents have been buying bottled water for months. People in Flint have been told not to drink the water until it is determined to be safe, and volunteers and police in recent days have been going door to door with bottled water, filters and lead test kits.

Flint, operating under a state-appointed emergency manager at the time, began using the Flint River for drinking water in April 2014 after disconnecting from the Detroit water system’s Lake Huron.

Earlier Tuesday, Genesee County sheriff’s Capt. Casey Tafoya said volunteers and police hoped to get to 500 to 600 houses a day in a city of about 99,000 residents with an estimated 30,000 households. Flint was reconnected to the Detroit water system in mid-October, but state officials said this week the city’s drinking water still is not considered safe.

Now, Flint needs to be declared a disaster area, not just in a state of emergency, in order to secure the billions of dollars in infrastructure and health funds that will be needed to address the problem, through federal aid, Harris said.

Governor Rick Snyder has activated National Guard units to go to work in Flint.

National Guard members are expected to arrive in Flint as soon as Wednesday, with additional members arriving by Friday, Snyder Dave Murray spokesman said.

Pushing this decision – and the responsibility to pay for refunding Flint’s water customers – to the city essentially puts the cost on the backs of Flint’s taxpayers, a galling move after the state’s actions in this crisis. He’s asking people to report potential scams to police, including people trying to sell filters they got for free. But the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality apparently ignored the report’s recommendations.