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Last updated on Monday, January 13, 2014
(INDIANAPOLIS) - In the wake of the snow, Mayor Greg Ballard is asking Washington for federal disaster assistance.
This was the second biggest single-day snowfall in Indianapolis history followed by 34 consecutive hours of sub-zero temperatures.
The cost is still being counted and the cleanup is not complete but the Mayor's office says the City spent millions of dollars in cleanup and recovery efforts. "We had to have a snowfall that was within ten percent of our all-time record high snow and we would have had to have spent more than 3.16 million dollars on costs for recovery and we're going to exceed that in a very large fashion," said Mayor Ballard's spokesman Marc Lotter.
If FEMA grants the petition, local government may recover costs for items such as overtime and private contractors for snow removal, evacuation and the opening of shelters, the removal of snow from building entrances and the repair of damage caused by the storm.
Lotter says all of Marion County could get assistance if granted by FEMA including the cities of Beech Grove, Lawrence, Speedway and Southport. Those cities would have to join Indianapolis in the application for assistance.
Once the numbers are figured out, they will be combined with other county costs and given to Governor Mike Pence to make a disaster declaration for affected areas to FEMA.
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