NORWICH – The Town of Norwich held its first meeting of the new year Monday and had various topics to discuss – one being funding to cover expenses from the summer and fall flooding.

Following June flooding and then again after November’s flash flooding, the Town of Norwich had contracted Burrell’s Excavating, as well as others, to get the town’s roads back in order. Flooding left several roads, such as Lower Ravine, Springvale and Whitestore roads in dire need of repair. Sluices were lodged with various debris, bridges were washed out and road construction was going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The June and November floods were classified as natural disasters, and therefore funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was available for municipalities to do what was necessary to get the damage repaired for the safety of the public. FEMA officials have been, and are still, on hand, as are representatives from the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Army Corps of Engineers and several construction teams to get the work complete.

Highway Superintendent Stan Foulds says there are still areas in need of work from the June flooding, and his workers, as well as other local contractors, are still making repairs to damaged roads.

The process of getting the funding from FEMA is not simple or short, said Town Supervisor David Law. He says first the damaged areas need to be surveyed, then the work orders need to be approved. Work orders first go to the state and then to the federal level, and then back down the line until the town receives the finalized plans. After approval, the town gets a blue binder which is a detailed layout of expenses and work for each project.