VERNONIA, Ore. -- Months after getting slammed by floods, Vernonia received a good-news visit from Oregon U.S. Senator Ron Wyden Sunday.

Thanks to some arm-twisting by the senator, some of those hit hardest by the disaster will now have extra time to recover.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was due to remove manufactured homes it temporarily set up for Vernonia families, many of whom were not ready to vacate just yet.

The senator helped get them four extra months to make living arrangements.

That’s great news for the Smith family.

Ernie Smith, his wife Robin and their three children have been living in a temporary FEMA trailer.

It’s among several offered by the relief agency to Vernonia families displaced during the disaster in 2007, after which most of this town found itself under water.

Without the trailer, the Smiths would be paying rent somewhere else on top of their home loan.

“We were looking at $1,100 a month for rent. Yeah, another $1,200 for our mortgage,” Ernie Smith said.

FEMA was about to remove the trailers as scheduled even though they're still being used by families struggling through bureaucratic red tape to apply for more federal relief.

“But we're not going to let folks fall between the cracks. It is just not acceptable,” said Wyden.

He heard about the trailer removal deadline and heard the pleas from families for more time.

Wyden helped convince FEMA to give them a four-month extension.

“I just want to send the message that on my watch nobody is going to forget about Vernonia. This community has been hit and hit and hit again,” said Wyden.

During his latest town hall meeting in Vernonia Sunday, Wyden got a hearty welcome from a grateful crowd.

The Smiths were first to thank him and remind him what other families are still going through.

“It's hard on folks. It's hard on marriages,” said Smith.

But this extension buys him just enough time.

The Smith family will hopefully receive assistance for their destroyed home as they prepare to find a new home somewhere above the flood zone.

But, as Sen. Wyden puts it, there's still a lot of “heavy lifting” to do in Vernonia.

In addition to helping displaced families, he says, efforts are underway to assist in repairs for local schools and wastewater treatment facilities.