People left with flooded basements and local governments left with millions of dollars in clean-up costs won't be getting any help from the federal government. FEMA told Illinois officials (Thursday) the December and January storms that produced flooding weren't severe enough to warrant federal help. Illinois asked for help for people and cities in almost two-dozen counties, including Iroquois and Vermilion.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency had worked with county and municipal leaders in re-accessing damages with hopes the federal threshold would be met to bring help. IEMA Director James Joseph said the state agency will reach out again to partners in affected areas to see if there's support for an appeal, again.

Congressman Adam Kinzinger said a bill is in the hopper for consideration to get FEMA to change its disaster recipe. Kinzinger said, considering the flooding effect on Watseka , it merits consideration for FEMA to instead look at the impact on the community and hot just a dollar-threshold.

94.1 WGFA