U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) has promised that federal money will be available to repair the state’s transportation infrastructure damaged by last month’s historic flash flood.
She is pushing for quick passage of the Biden administration’s supplemental funding request for FEMA, said the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.
DeLauro spoke after inspecting a section of Metro-North’s Waterbury rail line in Seymour that had been washed away.
She said the FEMA funding would ensure that Connecticut would get the money it needed to repair the flood damage.
“No part of the country is immune from these disasters. So you could usually get bipartisan support to move. My hope is that we are going to move on the supplemental appropriation sooner than later,” DeLauro said.
Connecticut would need about $11 million in federal money for the restoration of the line, according to state DOT Commissioner Garret Eucalitto.
“We are going to be placing a lot of stone, building from the bottom of the washout up to the top. And try to rebuild the base of the entire railbed and then relay the tracks on top of that,” he said.
Eucalitto said the goal is to have the rail line back in service by Veteran’s Day in November.
