WARWICK, R.I. — U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano took a helicopter tour over still-flooded Rhode Island on Friday, witnessing waterlogged shopping malls and homes with people’s possessions laid out to dry in their yards, as residents and officials in the already economically troubled state pleaded for her to secure more federal aid.
Napolitano called the flooding “significant” and pledged the federal government’s help in the months to come. State officials, including U.S. Reps. Jim Langevin and Patrick Kennedy, pressed for more than what has already been promised.
“We were already reeling from a bad economy. This is the last thing that Rhode Island could deal with, and yet, here we are,” Langevin, whose district was hardest hit, said to Napolitano during a news conference. “Families, individuals, businesses need the help, as soon as possible.”
The National Weather Service said it did not expect the Pawtuxet River, source of much of the flooding, to go below flood stage until at least Sunday. Many neighborhoods and businesses have been underwater since Monday. It is the worst flooding in the state in at least 200 years.
Gov. Don Carcieri has said the floods likely caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, and state labor officials said as many as 4,000 people are temporarily out of work.
President Barack Obama had declared a disaster in much of Rhode Island, which triggers some federal money, although the state is required to match 25 percent of the disaster funds.
Carcieri and members of the congressional delegation have asked the federal government to waive that requirement, given the state’s dire financial situation. The state has had years of budget problems, with a current deficit of $220 million, and the unemployment rate is at 12.7 percent, third worst in the country.
Napolitano told The Associated Press she was considering the request but she said the priority was to “get the aid out that we know we can get out.”
She said Congress has strict laws about whether states qualify for the waiver but she would work with state officials on their application.
In West Warwick, the epicenter for some of the worst flooding, the sights and sounds of cleanup were everywhere. On one street, floodwater had receded but police cruisers still blocked off side streets thick with mud.
Firetrucks idled noisily in the street, and portable generators hummed, powering hoses that snaked out of basement windows, the water gushing out and sloshing into puddles in the street.
