VIRGINIA – Tomorrow marks one month since flooding devastated the Two Virginias, and the commonwealth is still waiting to hear whether or not FEMA relief will help communities devastated in Southwestern Virginia.
Governor Glenn Youngkin asked the White House for an expedited Major Disaster Declaration on Feb. 16.
“This is the fifth major flood in this area in the past five years and there is significant damage that is affecting community lifelines. It is critical that we provide relief,” Youngkin said at the time of his request.
Since then, Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Mark Warner (D-VA) alongside Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) signed their names to a letter urging President Trump to approve Youngkin’s application.
“Unfortunately, this storm has resulted in at least four fatalities, caused significant damage to regional infrastructure, left over 203,000 customers without power at its peak, caused over 270 road closures including low water bridges and road washouts, resulted in multiple 9-1-1 center outages,” said the letter.
The West Virginia delegation authored a similar letter to Trump Governor Morrisey’s request approved 6 days later.
Morrisey’s request was sent to the White House on Feb. 17 and was not expedited.
Gov. Youngkin’s Feb. 16 request included Individual Assistance and Public Assistance for Buchanan, Dickenson, and Tazewell counties and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program assistance statewide. On February 26, Gov. Youngkin submitted an amended expedited Major Disaster Declaration request for Individual Assistance and Public Assistance that included Bland, Giles, Lee, Pulaski, Russell, Scott, Smyth, and Wise.
More than 150 were performed in Southwestern Virginia, some occurred in Tazewell County.
Some Richlands residents say this is the worst flooding they have ever seen.
As citizens wait for FEMA relief, they are coming together to do what they can to help rebuild their communities.
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