Waukesha not Included with Federal Disaster Aid Request for February Blizzard

The epic early February blizzard resulted in the city using 784 tons of salt and public works employees accruing a combined 732.4 hours of over time as crews cleared about two feet of snow off city streets during the four-day storm.

Director of Public Works Fred Abadi said in an email that there were 990.5 hours of regular time labor used during the storm.

Here is the breakdown:

• Jan. 31: 116.5 regular hours and 87 over-time hours; 164 tons of salt
• Feb. 1: 310 regular hours and 251.6 over-time hours; 306 tons of salt
• Feb. 2: 330 regular hours and 239.8 over-time hours; 199 tons of salt
• Feb. 3: 234 regular hours and 154 over-time hours; 126 tons of salt

The storm shut down government, school, businesses and churches as the snow dumped on Waukesha day after day.

Gov. Scott Walker last week requested assistance with costs accrued by the storm from the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 10 counties, but Waukesha County was not included in the request.

FEMA indentified that Dane, Dodge, Grant, Iowa, Kenosha, Lafayette, Milwaukee, Racine, Walworth and Washington counties had more than $9.5 million of expenses that could be reimbursed by the federal government, according to a news release from his office.

"Emergency responders and snowplow drivers worked long days and nights during the blizzard, keeping our roads safe," Walker said in the news release.  "The costs associated with the response and snow removal hit many local budgets hard.  I am hopeful that Wisconsin will receive federal assistance to help provide relief to our local governments."