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U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell toured the flood-damaged town of Sumas on Tuesday, Jan. 25, as local residents, business owners, and Whatcom County officials appealed for federal help now and in the months ahead.

“Individual assistance is already underway with FEMA,” the state and private donors, Cantwell told The Bellingham Herald. “But what we really need to focus on now is getting the federal disaster declaration, making sure that federal money can assist in public works repairs that need to happen in the community, and also to look at some of the solutions to prevent this level of flooding in the future,” Cantwell said in an interview.

President Biden issued a federal disaster declaration to provide money for affected residents and businesses earlier this month, but a different kind of designation is required to fund public-works projects such as repairs for bridges, roads and levees. Current estimates show more than $100 million in damages from two rounds of flooding along the Nooksack River in November 2021, said John Gargett, deputy director of the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management