Finally, Federal Help For Colorado Flood Damage

The end of the federal government shutdown will also bring economic relief so that a large area of Colorado hit by devastation flooding can start to rebuild.

It’s already been a month since Colorado was awash in raging floodwaters but relief has been slow to arrive in part due to the government shutdown. Now weeks after the torrential rains pummeled an area nearly the size of Connecticut, causing more than a dozen counties to be declared disaster areas, a provision to speed emergency funds to help Colorado rebuild has been included as part of the Senate compromise on the CR to fund the government for several months.

According to The Washington Post, Colorado Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet convinced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to include the bill in the deal Reid struck with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Currently Colorado is only eligible to receive up to $100 million in emergency highway funds, but the measure will increase this to up to $450 million in Federal Highway Administration funding.

The economic toll of the flood is still being calculated, but as of last week initial tallies were staggering with estimates of $430 million to repair damage to roads and bridges and $760 million to fix public infrastructure. The risk-modeling firm Eqecat estimated that total economic damages could exceed $2 billion when costs for lodging expenses for displaced people and restoring services are factored in.

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.