From an editorial in the Boston Globe: FEMA should recognize that Mass. needs help this winter. Here is the essence of the problem:

FEMA tends to provide relief for major, individual disasters, not the cumulative effects of smaller consecutive ones. That means that if FEMA decides to take a doctrinaire view of its mandate, it might provide relief only for some activities related to Juno — which was historic in its own right — but not for any other storm. Horowitz estimates that could leave Boston with only $6 million in federal aid, which would barely put a dent in the $35 million the Hub has already spent on storm cleanup this winter. But the federal government needs to recognize a disaster that unfolds in slow motion is still a disaster, and the conditions on the ground — including the Commonwealth’s need to borrow equipment from neighboring states — make it clear that this winter has overwhelmed the state’s ability to handle the cleanup by itself.