Pritzker called the denial from FEMA 'politically motivated' as other Democrat-led states were also denied federal assistance.
The city's Southwest Side saw some of the worst damage from those strong storms . Residents whose homes were impacted say they are disappointed that disaster relief has not arrived. "We're frustrated, because as you see, if you take a look back there, there's no garage," said Mario Carvajal.
Carvajal says his family had to pay $2,500 out of pocket for cleaning and repairs after strong storms swept through last August. The garage of his Gage Park home collapsed, and his basement flooded. "We would like to get help from FEMA or from the state, you know, to get another garage or at least a fence," Carvajal said. FEMA has denied Illinois' appeal for disaster relief funds following last August's storms. The agency wrote that supplemental federal assistance was not warranted. The flooding and strong winds affected people across multiple counties. Yolanda Martinez also lives in Gage Park. She says her furniture and several appliances were damaged. "No es justo. porque a qui en Chicago hay muchas personas de bajos recursos y pierden todo y a donde se van," Martinez said, speaking to ABC7 in Spanish. Martinez says it is not fair for the many low-income families in Chicago who lost everything and had no place to go after the flooding. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called the denial from FEMA "politically motivated" as other Democrat-led states were also denied federal assistance. Mayor Brandon Johnson was asked about this on Tuesday. "So, we're going to push back, obviously, and yeah, it's unfortunate that this administration has shown so much animus towards working people, but I'm going to use every single tool that's available to me to protect our people in our city," Johnson said."I also intend to introduce legislation to create a pilot program for the Southwest Side using the water enterprise fund, so that we can actually look at installing the backflow valves that would have, basically, protected thousands of homes on the Southwest Side," Lopez said. Johnson went on to say that he will also continue to work with Illinois' congressional delegation to secure relief for Chicago families.Man videoed abuse of girlfriend's son, who died in north suburb: pros.
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