Gov. Dannel Malloy has requested a Federal Presidential Disaster Declaration seeking aid after storms and tornadoes ripped through the state in May.
Parts of New Haven, Fairfield and Litchfield counties saw devastation from the storms that left more than 150,000 people without power and forced many towns to
close schools for days. Downed trees and piled-up debris still litters places like Newtown.
Malloy is now seeking $13.2 million in aid to repair the more than 445 homes and local services destroyed or damaged during the storms.
If approved, town and state agencies will receive reimbursement for 75 percent of eligible municipal and state costs. Individual homeowners could get up to $34,000 for costs related to uninsured damage.
A Newtown official says the federal aid would help the community rebuild.
"The process of rebuilding a community doesn't just fall to the structures -- it also falls to the people themselves and to the properties," says Rob Sibley, Newtown's deputy director of emergency management. "So we are hopeful this process will actually make whole those areas."
Sibley says he hopes the aid will be approved within months.
In the meantime, FEMA is urging homeowners to document all the damage and repairs costs.