If it is approved, the individual assistance could include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, and the public assistance would help agencies such as city schools and the water system. Earlier this week, he sent the Michigan National Guard to distribute bottled water and other supplies.
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Michigan State Police hold a barrier to keep protestors out of the Romney Building, where Gov. Rick Snyder’s office resides on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, in Lansing, Mich. More than 150 people tried to flood into the lobby in protest against Snyder, asking for his resignation and arrest in relation to Flint’s water crisis.
At a Monday news conference in Flint, Snyder said that after Muchmore raised concerns in a July e-mail that Flint residents’ concerns about the safety of their drinking water were being “blown off” by the administration, officials at both the DEQ and the Department of Health and Human Services maintained there was not a problem.
Snyder told the group of several dozen at the auto show reception sponsored by Delta Air Lines that the Flint crisis was “something we wish would never happen to anyone”.
Snyder said Friday that Weaver’s full authority as mayor should be restored.
Flint’s tap water became contaminated with too much lead after the city switched its water supply in 2014 while a new pipeline was under construction. “We’ve got to do something about it. They come back to me and say, ‘We’ve got this cleared up.'” Then Muchmore asked, “why does the water smell?” and the same thing happened again.
Members of the United Auto Workers Region 1-D say they have secured 18 pallets of one-gallon water jugs and 20 pallets of bottled water to supply three community centers in Flint.
A buildup of lead in the body can cause mental and physical problems, or even death, and small children are especially vulnerable. Flint has since returned to Detroit’s system for its water, but officials remain concerned that damage to the pipes caused by the Flint River could allow them to continue leaching lead.
Snyder, who has also faced criticism, said Monday that the water situation is a “crisis” and last week declared an emergency.
Michigan’s attorney general says he plans to investigate Flint’s water crisis. FEMA has appointed a disaster recovery coordinator.
Speaking earlier in the evening to a private reception at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Snyder described how he has been in touch in recent days with a number of federal emergency officials, including the Secretary of Homeland Security and a top White House liaison on state issues to discuss how the federal government might be able to aid MI.
“I’m sure he’s angry”, Snyder chief of staff Dennis Muchmore said after a taping of WKAR-TV’s “Off The Record”.
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Kildee said in a statement that “thousands of children of Flint who have been poisoned are the victims in this situation”.
