State Sen. Patty Ritchie is announcing the new state budget contains an additional $40 million for the Lake Ontario Flood Relief and Recovery Grant Program.

Ritchie, who represents northern St. Lawrence County residents in the 48th State Senate District, says the additional allocation will ensure all 3,500 expected eligible applicants — including 1,100 from Oswego, Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties — receive the support they need to recover from last spring’s historic flooding.

“While it has been almost a year now since this tragic flooding event, many of our shoreline property owners are still trying to get their homes—and their lives—back to normal,” said Senator Patty Ritchie. “I have been fighting to see that every person in need of support receives it and this critically important investment takes us one step closer toward that goal.”

The new funding expands on Senator Ritchie’s efforts to support shoreline homeowners, businesses and municipalities impacted by flooding.

Last year, she cosponsored legislation to create the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence Seaway Flood Relief and Recovery Grant Program, which provided $45 million in funding to impacted year-round and seasonal homeowners, small businesses, farms, not-for-profits and municipalities.

In addition, she also hosted several flood workshops throughout Central and Northern New York, where impacted property owners received information about the relief application process and the other details they would need to receive assistance.

In October, she co-hosted a “Joint Hearing on 2017 Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Flooding”, which allowed residents to hear directly from various stakeholders on what they believe caused the flooding and what can be done to prevent a similar event from happening in the future.