The city of Rutland is hoping to use some of the more than 300-thousand-dollars it is expecting to receive for disaster relief tied to an April storm to prepare for similar situations in the future.
The city expects soon to receive a check from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse it for expenses related to a mid-April storm that knocked down hundreds of trees, closed streets and disrupted electric service.
The city’s top priority for the money will be to pay off short-term debt the city incurred due to the expenses of the cleanup.
City Mayor Christopher Louras said money is expected to be left over, though, mainly because FEMA reimburses cities expenses that won’t show up right away such as wear and tear to vehicles used in the cleanup.
The mayor said the city hopes to use part of the money to retrofit pumps in its sewage system so they can be hooked up to portable generators next time there’s a blackout.
In April’s storm, those pumps were out of service, causing overflows that flooded basements and sent raw sewage into Otter Creek.