Arizona communities hit by flooding seek help after FEMA denies aid

Well, flood damage is a major concern east of the valley, not from tonight's storms, but from last year's monsoon, causing an estimated $100 million in damage there. FEMA refuses to help, so several communities are turning to a U.S. Senator instead. Jacob Luthi has more from Miami. When my husband came, he saw that the wall was warping, so my husband had to replace all the sheetrock and everything else that was there. Lisa Zaragoza has lived in Miami her entire life. She says she'd never seen flooding like September's. Her small business was impacted, but what she remembers most is how the community came together. There was so much help and so many people coming and helping everybody, just trying to clean, and people were donating food. I'm like, you know what? We just need to make sandwiches for people. The flood claimed multiple lives, as homes and businesses in the Globe, Miami area were also destroyed. Cities and neighbors have made major progress, but the recovery is far from over. We need the money, FEMA. On Saturday, Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego met with leaders from Globe, Miami, and Superior as frustration grows over the stalled recovery. This just a day after a bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to President Donald Trump and FEMA demanding answers on why the agency denied the region's requests for disaster assistance. They've hit every qualified reason why they should be getting a FEMA grant. Just like any other place in the world, it is being held up because of politics. Do I want to play this game where we're going to be rejecting Florida's money every time they have a hurricane? No, but we're going to have to start looking at ways to actually hold up money for Florida in order for me to get places like money for Miami here in Arizona. Now what you see here is the work that still needs to be done. City leaders say that additional disaster relief funding will go towards stabilizing these creeks as well as continuing the process of removing the sediment. They also want to repair roads and hire the necessary manpower to do it all. Are we going to have enough money to finish all these projects? We've got about 150 different projects to do, some little, some big, and it's going to take the money to get it done and we don't have all the money we need. While initial estimates put losses at about $33 million, local leaders say assessments now top 100 million. I can't understand why FEMA wouldn't let us get the money to finish this so we can go on and really make a big progress for our state, for our town, for our country. Local officials say this is a regional recovery because when one community suffers, the entire region feels the impact. Zaragoza says she's glad her representatives are pushing for answers. It's just good to see that they really care about, you know, their communities and stuff, so they are fighting for us. Reporting in Miami, Jacob Luthi, Fox 10 News.