State Rep. Cam Cavitt, R-Cheboygan, on Friday released the following statement of support after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer requested a Presidential Emergency Declaration (EM) following devastating storms in Northern Michigan:

“No one alive has ever seen a storm this bad in Northern Michigan. We’re nearly two weeks out, and there are still more than 10,000 people without power. It took days for gas stations and grocery stores to re-open. We had nursing homes running lifesaving equipment off generators and roads impassable for days. This was nothing short of a living nightmare.

“We may be pulling away from the worst of it – a lot of us feel blessed just to be able to fill up at the gas station and stop for some sorely needed groceries – but there is still a mountain of work ahead of us.

“This emergency declaration from President Trump would be a saving grace for so many. Northern Michigan, specifically Northeast Michigan communities, are some of the poorest places in Michigan. Most folks don’t have the money to clean up and repair their properties following these storms. Local governments sometimes struggle to make ends meet in normal years; we don’t have the tax base to take on additional storm recovery costs. This declaration would get our communities the resources we desperately need to get back to normal and truly put this historic storm in the past where it belongs.”

 The historic ice and wind storms left more than 100,000 homes and businesses without power and rendered hundreds of miles of roads inaccessible.

If approved, the emergency declaration would authorize up to $5 million in immediate public assistance.

###