Denied federal flood relief, a Maryland town is left on its own

WESTERNPORT, Md. — As water rushed down Church Street, Theresa Boal hurried to save the antique furniture and knickknacks inside the funeral home her family has owned and operated in Allegany County, Maryland, for more than a century. A downpour had caused Georges Creek, which runs through the middle of town, to surge and flood the streets of Westernport in an hour.

Her 10-year-old son was at school a short walk down the street, and she couldn’t get to him because of the rising water. Her three pit bulls were locked away in a room on the second floor of her brick home next door. But Boal didn’t have time to save anything else before water filled with muck forced its way inside.

“It was so fast, you can’t even think to do anything,” Boal, 38, said.

Denied federal flood relief, a Maryland town is left on its own

More than two months after the devastating flood swept through Westernport, its mark remains on the small town of about 1,800 residents.

Cars inundated with water during the flood sit abandoned along Maryland Avenue, their doors and trunks left open to reveal interiors splattered with mud. One of the town’s emergency access roads is blocked by piles of gravel at both ends of the street, placed there after a resident’s truck fell into a crater under the pavement. Many residents lost their washers, dryers, water heaters and furnaces when their basements filled with water, and they can’t afford to replace the expensive appliances — especially not all at once.

Westernport town administrator Laura Freeman Legge said she estimated the town’s damages at $10 million, not including the damage to peoples’ homes and personal property. For a town with an annual budget of about $2 million, many repairs will need to be put on hold, potentially for years.

On Wednesday, the town suffered another hit. The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied a request for $15.8 million to make repairs across Allegany and Garrett counties. The decision came as a shock to local leaders, who said that even after the agency disqualified millions of dollars in damage from the request, the county and state still met thresholds to qualify for assistance.

“We met the criteria,” Westernport Mayor Judy Hamilton said. “So, we’re confused, and we don’t understand why we were not given the FEMA assistance.”

A mud-splattered vehicle that had been waterlogged along Maryland Avenue.

Many people in the area affected by the flood said they felt like the FEMA denial was politically motivated, because Maryland is a Democratic-run state. But Allegany County, which sustained the lion’s share of damage from the Georges Creek flood in May, is one of Maryland’s most conservative communities. Republican voters outnumber Democrats more than 2 to 1 in the county, and the region’s elected representatives in state government — Sen. Mike McKay and Del. Jim Hinebaugh Jr. — are both members of the GOP.

“Even though Maryland is a Democratic state, up here they’re not. They voted red. And I think that’s where the frustration for the residents is,” Hamilton said. “Now they feel like the president has turned his back on them.”

Federal funds from FEMA would have helped pay for repairs to critical infrastructure. Since the flood the Allegany County-managed sewage system has been leaking into Georges Creek, which feeds into the Potomac River. Asphalt roads in Lonaconing and Westernport were washed away, gas lines ripped up and storm drains blocked by debris.

In Westernport, the town’s fire station, town hall, elementary school and library were all severely damaged. The town hall has reopened and fire station repairs are underway, but the library, which lost all of its books when a wave of water buckled a door and window, is still boarded up.

Laura Freeman Legge, town administrator of Westernport, surveys Georges Creek.

Legge, Westernport’s town administrator, said that although aid from FEMA wouldn’t go directly to residents, it would free up town and county dollars that right now must be allocated to fixing infrastructure. That leaves residents with nowhere to turn while facing expensive repairs.

“Then we could use our resources to do something,” she said, “but we can’t.”

Hamilton said the town has secured some funding from the state thanks to Gov. Wes Moore (D), who made just under $1.5 million available for recovery efforts. About 24 households in Allegany County also received help from a nonprofit to replace water heaters, which are especially important to replace before temperatures drop. But it’s not nearly enough.

“Our families are worried about the winter, which is right around the turn,” Hamilton said.

The elementary school where Boal’s son waited out the storm had flooding to its first floor, but all the students were kept safe inside the three-story building until they could be evacuated by boat. Westernport Elementary will reopen by the first day of school on Aug. 27, superintendent Michael J. Martirano said. The first floor will be closed for ongoing repairs, but the kindergarten and first-grade classes will be moved to staff lounges, extra rooms and a stage on the upper floors until their classrooms are fixed. Lunches will be trucked in from another nearby school until the cafeteria on the first floor is cleared for use.

“All of this is devoted to keeping our children intact and keeping a community intact, because they’ve been through a lot,” Martirano said. “We want them to feel the love and support and that we care about them on the first day of school.”

Though there were no deaths during the flood, a 16-year-old suffered an asthma attack and died while cleaning debris in the days afterward.

About eight miles north on Route 36, in the one-stoplight town of Lonaconing, Mayor Jack Coburn drove down the gravel remains of Old Beachwood Road, which is flanked on one side by Koontz Run. The run flows into Georges Creek, and when the larger creek flooded, the run did, too.

He slowly rolled down the remains of the street, pointing out downed trees that needed to be removed. He listed the homes that had flooded and the ones that still weren’t fit for the residents to return. He gestured toward a white house that had lost its driveway bridge in the flood. The 90-year-old man who lives there can no longer get his car in and out, Coburn said.

A little farther up the road, Columbia Gas trucks and tractors maneuvered along the narrow street, working to replace gas lines. Most of the homes had racks of gas canisters outside, a temporary solution until the utility can be reconnected. Coburn, too, worries that crucial work won’t be done before winter without FEMA’s assistance.

“This should be completely blind of what your party is, and the federal aid needs to come in and help these people,” Coburn said. “It’s their lives, their properties, and they’ll never be recovered without this funding.”

Construction workers put up stairs on an apartment building that sustained damage in the spring floods.

In an emailed statement, FEMA said it worked closely with Maryland officials to evaluate the request for aid and determine state and local capacity to pay for damages from the disaster.

“This decision just like all disaster requests was based on policy not politics,” the statement said.

President Donald Trump identified FEMA as one of his targets for scaling back federal spending, saying early in his second term that the agency could be eliminated. However, a spring and early summer of natural disasters, including the deadly floods in Texas, led the White House to back away from those plans.

Last week, FEMA granted requests for disaster relief in West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan, all states where voters supported Trump in the 2024 election.

“The President responds to each request for Federal assistance under the Stafford Act with great care and consideration, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement — not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in an email.

Boal’s family managed to stay safe in the flash flood, but the historic Boal Funeral Services home and chapel were wrecked after more than a foot of water entered the building. She lost three vehicles. Her home’s basement flooded, destroying her holiday decorations, including irreplaceable handmade Christmas ornaments.

By the next morning, Boal said she was already shoveling mud out of the first floor and corralling debris that had washed into her yard during the storm. Her family then began to tear out the sodden carpet and remove water-damaged drywall. They ran dehumidifiers and fans to remove even more water.

All over town, volunteers mobilized to muck out basements and fill dumpsters with debris.

“We never waited around for anybody to rescue us,” Boal said.

The entrance to Boal Funeral Home during the spring flooding in Westernport, Maryland.

The entrance to the funeral home as seen Friday in Westernport.

More than two months after the flood, like many people who live in Westernport, Boal is still working on repairs and waiting to reopen her business. She dipped into her retirement savings and a nest egg set aside to build a new home. But she worries more about her neighbors who can’t afford to replace water heaters and furnaces that were ruined by the flood.

“A lot of people aren’t going to be okay,” Boal said. “You worry about winter coming and trying to heat your home, and you’re waiting on money for things. It’s heartbreaking.”

On Friday, Hamilton and Legge drove a side-by-side utility vehicle behind a block of row homes on Maryland Avenue, originally built by the company that owned the now-shuttered paper mill that once drove the area’s economy. They stopped to talk to a group of people lounging in and around an aboveground pool in the 90-degree heat.

Legge asked if one of the women had gotten a new washer and dryer yet. She had, but she said she couldn’t figure out how to apply for help replacing her furnace. Legge promised to set up a session at town hall to assist with the application. Another woman chimed in to say that every time it rains now, the whole neighborhood is scared to death.

Hamilton suggested the women write a letter to FEMA sharing their struggles with the agency.

“Take the time and write a letter to FEMA that we need this money,” she said. “It was a big blow in our face. I’m encouraging everybody to write a letter about how it’s impacted your life and how you need that money to recover.”