The severe storms and flooding that began on March 12, 2010 has been declared a major disaster by President Barack Obama.

The head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that federal aid will be available to those affected by the severe storms.  This federal aid will supplement state and local recovery efforts.

The aid will provide federal funding to affected individuals in Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester counties.

State Director of Human Services for the Salvation Army, Brenda Beavers,

“We’re still in immediate response. We’re assessing what the needs will be, of course, like everybody else. We’ve started to distribute clean up kits. We have teams doing recovery all over the state”