The major disaster declaration approved for parts of the state that sustained damage during February’s torrential rain and storms includes 17 localities in far Southwest Virginia, while 16 additional localities in the Southside, Central and Southwest parts of the state were requested but are still in process, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The declaration covers the three counties — Buchanan, Dickenson and Tazewell — that were originally requested by Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Feb. 16, plus localities he later added: Bland, Carroll, Craig, Floyd, Franklin, Grayson, Lee, Pulaski, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Washington and Wise counties and the city of Bristol.
The request, which can be expanded for 30 days after the declaration, was amended to include additional localities on Feb. 27 and March 18, a spokesperson for FEMA said Wednesday.
The counties that are still in process are Appomattox, Bedford, Botetourt, Buckingham, Campbell, Charlotte, Clarke, Cumberland, Giles, Halifax, Montgomery, Nelson, Patrick, Pittsylvania and Roanoke counties plus the city of Roanoke.
The declaration, which was approved by President Donald Trump on April 4, opens up federal aid for recovery efforts. However, the declaration was for public assistance and not for individual assistance. Public assistance can pay for work on public or nonprofit facilities and infrastructure. Individual assistance provides funding to residents and households that have sustained losses as a direct result of a declared disaster.
For the localities that are included in the disaster declaration, Youngkin requested both public and individual assistance, but only public assistance was approved. The governor asked for only public assistance for the counties that are still being processed, according to FEMA.
Days of rain started Feb. 10 and dumped up to 7 inches on some areas of Southwest Virginia, and most of the flooding occurred over the following weekend of Feb. 15-16. A Bland County man died when he was swept away by floodwaters. Homes and businesses were damaged and destroyed, and roads and bridges were washed away or covered by mudslides. The power was out for days in some of the hardest hit areas like the Hurley community in Buchanan County.
Bristol City Manager Randy Eads said Wednesday that he did not know that the city had been included in the disaster declaration and had not not requested it. The city had a few trees down but really had no flooding damage, he said.
Youngkin announced that the president had approved the disaster declaration on Friday, nearly seven weeks after the original request was made.
However, the disaster wasn’t posted on the FEMA website until late Tuesday, while FEMA issued a news release announcing the approval on Wednesday.
U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both Democrats from Virginia, and U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, also had jointly requested a disaster declaration. On Wednesday, they issued a joint news release about the approval.
“After weeks of pushing at the federal level, we are glad to see this crucial assistance approved for Southwest Virginia,” they said in the release. “This is a strong first step towards supporting recovery efforts and we will continue pushing for Individual assistance to help deliver resources to the families most hard-hit by this devastating flooding.”
While meeting remotely with media from across the state Wednesday, Warner called the approval good news, but said it was “pretty disturbing” that it took so long to get, given that disaster declarations were approved so quickly for neighboring states that sustained damage from the same storms.
Kentucky’s declaration was approved Feb. 24 and West Virginia’s approval came Feb. 26.
He said that individual assistance remains under review, and that he, Kaine and Griffith will continue to push for it. The senator added that those affected by the flooding should “remember this is not charity. This is your right as an American to get this assistance from FEMA.”
Elizabeth Beyer contributed information to this report.
