Federal funding has been approved to help Virginia communities recover from damages due to Hurricane Ian.
Parts of Southwest Virginia saw extreme rainfall from July 13 to July 14, resulting in flash flooding and landslides.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin announced the approval of a Major Disaster Declaration for Buchanan and Tazewell counties.
“I would like to thank FEMA for approving Virginia’s request for federal assistance,” Youngkin said.
Governor Youngkin says a request for Individual Assistance is still awaiting approval.
“While we await the decision on our request for Individual Assistance to support the residents that were impacted, we are grateful to have this assistance to help us restore infrastructure and services in the impacted areas,” Youngkin said. “As Governor, I will continue to do everything we can to support these communities.”
The federal funding will provide support through two grant programs to help with flooding recovery and prevention.
The Public Assistance grant program includes:
- Reimbursement to organizations for damage expenditures
- Applicants may receive a reimbursement of 75 percent of eligible costs
- Full reimbursement could take several years
The Hazard Mitigation grant program includes:
- Future flooding assistance, approved at 75 percent of project costs
- Implementation of the program could take 5 to 7 years
- The application phase is 12 months
- FEMA may take 6 to 18 months to award the project
The Virginia Department of Emergency Management will hold briefings in the coming weeks to inform applicants of the process of applying for grants. Applicants looking to apply for grants will have 30 days to register and submit a request at the FEMA grant portal.