President Obama Issues Emergency Declaration Over Flint Water Crisis

Cher has donated 181,440 bottles of water to the people of Flint, Michigan, who have not had fresh drinking water for over a year.

Obama ordered on Saturday that federal aid be used for state and local response efforts be made in the areas affected.

That clears the way for federal aid to a city that’s been battling contaminated water since 2014.

FEMA will deliver water, water filters, water filter cartridges, water test kits, “and other necessary related items” for about three months, the release said.

Governor Snyder sent two requests to the president: one asking the president to allow immediate assistance for water, food, and generators and another asking the president to declare a major disaster, which could qualify the city for millions of federal dollars to provide long-term solutions to the aging infrastructure. But many blame Synder for the current crisis, saying he failed to act until what The New York Times describes as “an outpouring of rage from Flint residents, city leaders, journalists and independent researchers forced him to wake up and focus on the calamity”.

Despite the legal limitation, the governor is considering an appeal to exhaust “every opportunity to provide resources” for residents, Snyder spokesman Dave Murray said.

Snyder said in a statement released shortly before midnight on Thursday that he requested federal aid for eligible residents in Genesee County as well as state and local government entities to protect the safety of Flint residents. The state also ignored reports of elevated lead levels in the blood of Flint children.

Meanwhile, filmmaker and Flint native-son Michael Moore is trying to organize a campaign to have Synder arrested, and as Politico points out, Hillary Clinton also criticized Snyder this past week over the crisis.

Problems began in April 2014 when officials began drawing water from the Flint River as a cost-saving measure rather than continuing to buy it from Detroit. The city’s former mayor even drank some water from the tap to make the point.

Flint, Mich., resident Randy Huyck Jr., 17, throws a case of bottled water into the back of a volunteer’s vehicle as Detroit-area volunteers drop off more than 500 cases of bottled water in Flint on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016.

State Attorney General Bill Schuette said Friday that his office was investigating if any laws were broken.

The state of emergency gives FEMA and the department of homeland security permission to coordinate relief efforts for the state which include providing water and filters.