Federal funds bring relief from floodwater and wind damage

Stehekin River runoff, March 24. Photo courtesy: Ally Robinson.

Federal financial support has been made available  to deal with the aftermath of historic flooding that hit Washington in December.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that funds will be  available for individuals, nonprofits and state, tribal and local governments. This could include grants for temporary housing, home repairs and low-cost loans to cover those recovering from the disaster, and cost-sharing for emergency work on public facilities damaged by the storms.

“This is excellent news,” Gov. Bob Ferguson told The Washington State Standard. “I appreciate the president approving a major disaster declaration.”

Ferguson also thanked local, state and federal officials “who worked hard to advocate for this approval. We appreciate the support, and will be following up with the federal government to get more information.”

In February, Ferguson asked the federal government for up to $173 million to deal with the damage to roads, levees and other infrastructure and prepare for future disasters. The preliminary damage estimate at the time was $182.3 million.  Ferguson said then that it was “the largest dollar amount of public infrastructure damage in Washington state in more than four decades.”

The governor had also sought $21.3 million in federal aid to help flood victims.

The requests didn’t include damage to certain federal and state highways, including U.S. 2. The most significant destruction from the record flooding was on this major east-west crossing over the Cascades. 

Ferguson has said the state would seek funding separately for that toll from the Federal Highway Administration. It’s unclear where that request stands.

The state’s new transportation budget, which Ferguson signed late last month, includes $65 million in federal funding to repair state highways from the floods and $45 million of state financing for loans to counties and cities to deal with localized damage as they await federal reimbursements.

The record-breaking flooding forced evacuation orders for over 100,000 Washingtonians and damaged nearly 4,000 homes, according to the state. Almost 400 people needed to be rescued. One person died. Thirty-three rivers reached flood stage, and three broke records, though not quite to the catastrophic level some feared.

Apply for FEMA assistance here.