Counties added to S.D. disaster declaration

Stanley County, South Dakota, has been added to the federal disaster declaration originally signed on May 13, 2011, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced on June 7. In addition, FEMA direct federal assistance is available to Clay, Union and Yankton counties.

In total, 32 South Dakota counties are now eligible for FEMA Public Assistance.

“This will allow FEMA to provide vital resources to the communities faced with serious flooding along the Missouri River.” said Federal Coordinating Officer Mark Neveau. Added Director of South Dakota Office of Emergency Management Kristi Turman: “Making this federal assistance available to these counties will help greatly their efforts to protect their communities and citizens from flooding that has reached record levels in South Dakota.”

FEMA Public Assistance was originally made available to governments and certain private nonprofit agencies in the following South Dakota counties: Aurora, Beadle, Brookings, Brown, Buffalo, Clark, Codington, Day, Edmunds, Faulk, Grant, Hamlin, Hand, Hughes, Hyde, Jackson, Jerauld, Kingsbury, Lake, Marshall, Miner, Moody, Perkins, Potter, Roberts, Sanborn, Spink, and Sully.

Under FEMA’s Public Assistance program, FEMA funds at least 75 percent of the cost of eligible work by governments and certain private nonprofits. The State of South Dakota will contribute an additional 10 percent for the cost of eligible projects. In addition, Federal funding is available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation efforts in all counties in the State.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.