Tornado damage near Belmond in Wright County.
President Barack Obana hass issued a major disaster declaration requested by the governor for 47 Iowa counties impacted by severe storms, tornadoes and flooding that began May 19, 2013.
The counties included in the declaration are: Appanoose, Benton, Buchanan, Buena Vista, Butler, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Clay, Clayton, Crawford, Davis, Delaware, Des Moines, Fayette, Floyd, Franklin, Greene, Grundy, Hardin, Henry, Ida, Iowa, Jasper, Johnson, Jones, Keokuk, Lee, Linn, Louisa, Lyon, Mahaska, Marshall, Mitchell, Monona, Monroe, O’Brien, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Poweshiek, Sac, Sioux, Story, Tama, Wapello, Webster, Winnebago, and Wright.
The governor sent the request for the declaration on June 19 in response to significant damage that was caused by heavy rains, thunderstorms and flooding in those counties between May 19 and June 14, 2013.
The declaration by the President will provide federal funding to the declared counties to help public entities and select non-profits with emergency work and the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged facilities.
That may include debris removal, emergency protective measures, repair of damaged public property, loans needed by communities for essential government functions and grants for public schools.
The governor also received notification that the Presidential Disaster Declaration includes funding to conduct hazard mitigation activities for the entire state.