Governor Cuomo is adding Niagara County to the state's request for federal disaster aid following last week's flash flood. Lockport Mayor Michael Tucker met with U.S. Senator Charles Schumer and Lt. Governor Robert Duffy Tuesday morning and toured some of the damage left by Friday's storm.
"As of this morning, Governor Cuomo has included Niagara County in the disaster declaration. That will automatically generate some movement from Albany and the federal government," Tucker said.
Tucker says damage is estimated at over $7 million to both commercial and residential properties in the city. He says roads and water lines have been damaged and the city had to pump water out of hundreds of homes.
"We know we pumped out over 600. Probably 200 or more of them had at least six feet of water in their basement, so it was a significant event," Tucker said.
Tucker says the flooding was the worst he's ever seen in Lockport. In addition to helping the city make repairs to roads and water lines, he says he hopes the Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide some help to those homeowners that suffered water damage.
"My concern is that the residents get some relief and some of the businesses get some relief that really suffered a significant loss. That's really what were working on at this moment," Tucker said.
Tucker says the city's waste water treatment plant was also damaged in processing more than 92 million gallons of water on Friday. The average daily capacity is 7 million gallons.
Tucker says officials from the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be in Lockport soon to assess the damage.