Governor Snyder told journalists on Thursday that the string of cases occurred from June 2014 to November 2015, while Flint was using lead-poisoned water.
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Michigan’s governor Rick Snyder formally asked President Obama for federal assistance on Friday.
President Obama on Saturday declared a federal emergency in Flint, meaning federal financial aid will be available to assist with the drinking water crisis. State officials have acknowledged that they did not respond fast enough to complaints of lead contamination in the water supply, stemming from the decision nearly two years ago to switch the source of the tap water. Corrosive water leached lead from old pipes, officials said.
Earnest noted that the Justice Department has already started an investigation into the crisis, when asked by a reporter whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may have had a role in the state Department of Environmental Quality’s failure to require adequate protections to the water supply in Flint.
The order authorizes FEMA to provide water, filters, filter cartridges and other needed items, FEMA spokesman Rafael Lemaitre said on Twitter.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it will send a recommendation to President Barack Obama as “expeditiously as possible”.
Sanders is a close race in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire against Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who has been sharply critical this week of Snyder’s handling of Flint’s water crisis. Lead can cause irreversible brain and developmental damage in children and infants who ingest it through water or lead-based paint.
A year and a half later, researchers found the proportion of children with above-average lead levels in their blood had doubled, according to the Washington Post.
Snyder declared a state emergency on Tuesday and activated the National Guard to assist in distributing water, filters, and other supplies.
“If the people of Flint were to bring legal action against the governor and were to sue him because of what happened here, the attorney general would be the one defending him”.
Ten people are now dead of the respiratory illness Legionnaires’ disease – caused by Legionella bacteria potentially linked to the crisis.
Emergency protective measures, limited to direct federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent federal funding.
In consultations, the doctor said, “we need to give families hope that with secondary prevention interventions, not every kid is going to have problems”. FEMA has appointed a disaster recovery coordinator.
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David Murray, press secretary for Snyder, said the state administration had been “working closely with the city to focus on health issues affecting children and other city residents, and address water infrastructure challenges”. Mayor Dayne Walling says the committee will ensure the community is involved in the issue.
