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Help still needed for flood-damaged Houghton County

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Officials are hoping to get help from the federal government, as cleanup continues in Houghton County.

County Administrator Eric Forsberg says with total damage estimated at $100 million, he’s hoping FEMA will declare the region a disaster area and send money. But Forsberg says the county likely won’t get as much as it really needs.

“FEMA will only fund 75% of that, and when they came in they looked at all the entities’ estimates of damage assessment and they did their best to try and knock that down.”

Forsberg says response to residents affected by Father’s Day flooding has been incredible, but volunteers are still needed to help in the cleanup effort.

Forsberg says heavy rains last week produced 18 new road washouts, and residents continue to ask officials for help with cleaning up their homes.

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“They still have over 100 job requests on their board, so we would definitely request that people get out and help if they’re able to.”