Some towns still dealing with Irene’s aftermath

Hawley, a Franklin County town of fewer than 350 residents, was among several communities in the northwest corner of the state that this past fall were still dealing with the damage wrought by Tropical Storm Irene more than a year earlier.

According to Charles Stetson, the town’s treasurer and tax collector, Hawley officials are still working with state and federal authorities to obtain Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to cover 75 percent of the cost of remediating several washouts along two gravel roads in the town.

Hawley is among at least 27 Massachusetts communities that filed for federal help once the Obama administration issued disaster declarations for Franklin and Berkshire counties following the storm in late August 2011. Many of those communities have received funding, but Hawley faces special challenges because of its small staff.

Stetson noted that because none of the washouts cut off residents from the rest of the town, repairing the roads was not considered urgent. But, he added, “For convenience, and safety reasons, and especially for ease of maintenance, we’d like to get the project done.”

In the Berkshire County town of Adams, Town Meeting on Nov. 1 appropriated $190,000 to pay the balance not covered by FEMA for several Irene-related projects, including dealing with a mudslide that threatened the birthplace of suffragist Susan B. Anthony.

The town meeting had been scheduled for earlier that week, but was postponed due to Superstorm Sandy.

Town Administrator Jonathan Butler described Irene as “an extreme burden on the town’s resources for well over six months.”

In neighboring Williamstown, where the tropical storm destroyed all but 66 of 225 homes in a mobile home park, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency has recommended that FEMA approve a $6.25 million grant. The money would cover assorted housing-related expenses, with an anticipated $3 million for housing and relocation costs for residents still living in the mobile homes that survived the storm, according to Town Manager Peter Fohlin.

“We have people who are still suffering more than a year later, psychologically and physically,” Fohlin said. “But for many people, this is ancient history. You have to keep rekindling the awareness.”