Boston Receives FEMA Grant For January Storm

The city will receive $2.6 million in reimbursements from FEMA and other government agencies for expenses stemming from the .

The City Council voted on Wednesday to accept the grant, which will help cover the cost of snow removal and other storm-related costs incurred during the two-day storm, which began on January 12.

“Ironically, in comparison to some of the things we’re seeing on television today in other parts of our country, we’re actually quite lucky that what we experienced is just an awful lot of snow,” said Councilor Michael Ross.

“But it’s tremendously expensive,” he added. “It’s not what we’d panned for [and] it did put us well over what we’re able to pay for.”

The January storm dumped over a foot of heavy snow on the Boson area, downing power lines and tree limbs and prompting city and state officials to declare a state of emergency, making the city eligible for federal aid.

Boston’s snow removal budget for fiscal 2011 was $16 million. Two-thirds of the budget was exhausted by February.