Federal action follows September request after severe weather killed two people, damaged hundreds of properties and caused widespread outages
COLUMBUS, Ohio — President Donald Trump has approved a major disaster declaration for Ohio following a series of destructive storms that struck the state in August, according to an announcement Thursday from U.S. Sen. Jon Husted.
The federal action follows a request submitted by Gov. Mike DeWine on Sept. 2 seeking federal assistance for damage caused by severe weather between Aug. 10 and Aug. 23.
Husted, U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno and U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson sent a letter to the White House and Federal Emergency Management Agency on Sept. 3 supporting DeWine’s request.
The lawmakers said the two-week stretch of severe weather included a derecho, tornadoes and major flooding. According to their letter, two people were killed, others were injured and approximately 300,000 Ohio residents lost power. Hundreds of homes, businesses and other properties were also damaged or destroyed.
The September request sought Individual Assistance for 23 counties: Adams, Athens, Brown, Butler, Champaign, Clark, Clermont, Darke, Fairfield, Franklin, Greene, Hamilton, Highland, Licking, Logan, Madison, Morgan, Muskingum, Perry, Preble, Richland, Shelby and Washington.
Programs requested for those counties included disaster unemployment assistance, crisis counseling, disaster case management and disaster legal services.
Ohio officials and lawmakers also sought FEMA Transitional Sheltering Assistance, statewide funding through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and access to U.S. Small Business Administration physical damage and economic injury disaster loans.
The congressional delegation had previously asked federal officials to expedite damage assessments while repeated storms were still affecting parts of the state.
“Ohioans have been hit hard by these storms,” Husted said Thursday. He said he would continue seeking federal assistance as affected communities recover.
The September request and Thursday’s announcement are separate stages of the federal disaster process. The 23-county list reflects the assistance requested by Ohio and supported by the congressional delegation; it should not be interpreted as the final list of counties or programs approved under the presidential declaration without confirmation from FEMA’s final declaration documents.
