Baker Seeks Federal Disaster Aid For Snowstorms

Gov. Charlie Baker has formally asked the federal government to declare a disaster in 10 Massachusetts counties after a record-setting series of winter storms.

The request was made Friday in a 22-page letter to President Barack Obama, delivered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Citing an ``unprecedented and disastrous pattern of severe winter weather,'' the letter seeks 75 percent federal reimbursement for an estimated $400 million in snow removal and other costs related to the storms, which Baker is asking the feds to treat as a single, monthlong disaster.

The letter says the storms claimed 25 lives and caused hundreds of injuries.

The disaster request does not include the four western-most counties in Massachusetts, which were not as severely impacted by the storms.