Local Counties Receive Federal Assistance After Storms

WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI)- Over half a dozen counties in North Mississippi will now receive federal assistance after being declared disaster areas by President Donald Trump.

The declaration comes after storms produced tornadoes and flooding that impacted thousands in February.

In Clay County, nearly 100 homes and businesses, along with roads were damaged due to flooding.

The cleanup afterwards was putting a strain on county’s budget.

That’s why Emergency Management Director Torrey Williams said receiving the federal assistance is a big relief.

“The damage that was done was not budgeted for the year so that’s money that you have to dip into to fix the problems that’s going on,” said Williams. “Having that extra boost to be able to fix those problems without having to go in any other funds or cutting funds from other places, it’ll be able to make your money stretch a little further.”

The areas that will receive federal assistance include Calhoun, Chickasaw, Clay, Grenada, Lowndes, Pontotoc, and Tishomingo counties.

Now that the declaration has been signed, governments and certain nonprofit groups to be eligible to be reimbursed for a portion they pay in fixing infrastructure damage, debris removal, and overtime pay to emergency workers.

“We turn in receipts, turn in payroll, turn in things of that nature to them,” Williams explained. “The items that we have not done yet like a major bridge repair or major culvert repair, things like that, they will bring a team in and we will go back through those things and kind of tally up how much it’s going to cost, then they will decide by a cost code on how much will actually be reimbursable.”

As of now, the declaration does not grant federal assistance for individuals.

“The individual assessments or the individual assistance part is still under review, they have not denied that, so as they say no news is good news right now,” said Williams. “We’re still pushing to try to get them that assistance.”

MEMA Executive Director Greg Michel said they’ve asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to add 13 other counties to be added from recent storms.