FEMA Rejects RI Appeal for Blizzard Cleanup Money

upriseri.com · September 6, 2026

# FEMA Rejects RI Appeal for Blizzard Cleanup Money

Published: 2026-09-06T21:46:57.939000+00:00 Source: upriseri.com (upriseri.com) Language: en

## Story

FEMA Rejects RI Appeal for Blizzard Cleanup Money

Government·September 6, 2026·

5 min read

# FEMA Rejects RI's Appeal for Blizzard Cleanup Money

FEMA rejected Rhode Island's appeal for federal reimbursement after February's record blizzard, leaving roughly $23 million in state costs and millions more in municipal costs unreimbursed.

RI & Local Government

Why This Matters

State and local governments are absorbing the cost of the biggest snowstorm in Providence-area records, tightening budgets that fund roads, plowing and other services.

Rhode Island will not be reimbursed by the federal government for the record blizzard that buried the state in February. FEMA notified Gov. Dan McKee on September 2 that it had rejected the state's appeal of President Donald Trump's July 2 denial of a major disaster declaration, according to statements released by the governor's office on September 3 and by the state's congressional delegation on September 4.

The practical effect is that roughly $23 million in state storm costs, plus millions more spent by cities and towns, stays where it landed: in state agency accounts, municipal snow-removal budgets and forthcoming state budget amendments. The state's FY 2026 third-quarter report, issued by the Office of Management and Budget on May 15, laid out those numbers months before the final federal answer arrived.

## What Rhode Island asked for

The request was for Public Assistance, the FEMA program that reimburses state and local governments — not individual homeowners — for eligible emergency work such as debris removal, emergency protective measures and repairs to roads and public buildings. The Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency, which administers the program in the state, says the federal share is generally at least 75% of eligible costs, but only after a presidential declaration and FEMA validation of the work.

Rhode Island submitted its request on April 7, according to a July 6 release from Sen. Jack Reed's office. The delegation said the request was backed by a joint state-FEMA preliminary damage assessment documenting more than $19 million in validated damages, an amount they said exceeded the applicable federal benchmark by more than nine times. Trump denied that request on July 2. The state appealed on July 15 under the Stafford Act.

## The storm

There is no dispute about the snowfall. The National Weather Service recorded a 37.9-inch storm total at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport on February 23, breaking the previous Providence-area single-storm record of 28.6 inches set during the Blizzard of 1978. The delegation's September 4 statement also cited wind gusts of 74 mph.

Local sponsor

McKee declared a state of emergency on February 22 through Executive Order 26-02, activating the state emergency plan, standing up the emergency operations center, authorizing National Guard support and imposing travel restrictions. Providence, in its own public recovery guidance, said the storm required weeks of cleanup, multiple citywide passes and continued work to widen streets and preserve emergency access.

## The money, in three different numbers

The figures circulating in public statements measure different things, and the OMB report separates them.

Total estimated state cost: $23 million, consisting of $19.7 million for equipment and vendors and $3.3 million for overtime.

Of that, $20.1 million had already been covered through existing funding sources as of mid-May. That includes $8.7 million in Department of Transportation snow-removal costs and $8.1 million in Department of Emergency Management costs charged to an existing winter-operations account funded by the motor fuel tax. The remaining $2.9 million was slated for budget amendments — mid-year adjustments the administration asks the General Assembly to approve — including $1.6 million for the Department of Corrections and $1 million for emergency-management administrative work tied to the FEMA reimbursement effort.

Eligible costs are a narrower category. OMB estimated $10.7 million in eligible state costs, which at a 75% federal share would have produced a maximum reimbursement of roughly $8.1 million. Separately, the report estimated $19.3 million in total eligible costs across state agencies and municipalities, plus up to $1.4 million in management costs. Rhode Island Current, which first reported the contents of the FEMA appeal letter, put the split at roughly $9 million in state costs and about $10 million borne by cities and towns.

So the state was never in line for a $19 million check. It was in line for a share of eligible costs, contingent on a declaration and on FEMA validating each piece of work.

## What FEMA said, and did not say

The September 2 letter, signed by FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton, did not spell out why Rhode Island failed to qualify, according to Rhode Island Current's review of the document. Hamilton has since defended the outcome publicly, writing that winter weather is not new to the Northeast and that federal disaster aid is not meant to serve as a backstop for routine state and local budgeting. He said Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts — all denied in connection with the same storm — provided no new information on appeal.

That rationale sits against the state's threshold argument rather than resolving it. Federal regulation, at 44 C.F.R. § 206.48, directs FEMA to compare estimated Public Assistance costs against state population, but calls the per-capita amount an "indicator" rather than an automatic qualification. The same rule tells the agency to weigh localized impacts, insurance coverage, hazard mitigation work, recent disasters and other federal assistance. Crossing the number has never guaranteed approval.

## The state's response

McKee's September 3 statement said Rhode Island submitted the required data, exceeded the threshold and was left carrying the cost. He called the decision political, and noted that Rhode Island received federal disaster relief after snowstorms in 2013, 2015 and 2022. The state's 2024 hazard mitigation plan lists those declarations with public-assistance obligations of about $1.07 million, $8.90 million and $8.90 million respectively.

The delegation — Reed, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Rep. Seth Magaziner and Rep. Gabe Amo — went further in their September 4 statement, alleging Rhode Island was treated differently for partisan reasons. They pointed to the July 2 denial arriving the same day the administration approved more than $846 million in disaster aid for nine Republican-leaning states. They called for the preservation of White House and FEMA records and said they would keep pressing for what they described as merit-based reimbursement.

Those are accusations. The publicly available record does not establish the administration's motive, and it does not show that Trump personally adjudicated the September appeal, which came from FEMA.

## What changes for residents

Not a line on anyone's tax bill, at least not one that has been documented. McKee spokesperson Olivia DaRocha told Rhode Island Current that the state expects to cover most of its blizzard costs using unspent transportation funds and smaller balances at other agencies, while maintaining that this does not erase the federal government's responsibility.

What the denial does is remove roughly $8 million the state had penciled in as possible recovery, and leave municipalities to close their own gaps. Snow budgets ran short in February. WPRI reported in March that Providence had spent about $3.8 million on snow removal against a $2.2 million budget. Money spent above budget in one account is money not available elsewhere, and that pressure shows up in later budget cycles rather than in a single announcement.

The delegation

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