Governor declares state of emergency following last week’s devastating storms
FRANKFORT, Ky.—Gov. Steve Beshear today declared a state of emergency in Kentucky and asked President Obama to declare a major disaster for the Commonwealth as a result of the severe storms and flooding that struck the state on Tuesday, August 4. These storm conditions resulted in widespread damages, primarily in Metro Louisville and surrounding counties, causing disaster conditions, flooding homes and businesses, shutting down streets and damaging power lines.
The request sent to the President today is for individual assistance, including disaster housing, Individual and Household Program, disaster unemployment assistance and small business administration disaster loans. Louisville Metro and state emergency management officials continue work to complete the assessments for public damages incurred by state and local governments and public entities. If those assessments reach the level required to qualify for federal assistance, Gov. Beshear will make a separate request to President Obama for public assistance.
“Kentuckians have suffered a tremendous amount of hardship and damage at the hands of Mother Nature in the last year and Louisville residents have been especially hard hit,” said Gov. Beshear. “As devastating as the property damages were, we are all very grateful that this threatening storm did not cause the loss of human life.”
“Last week’s flash flooding caused devastating losses for many families in our community – complicated by the fact that many were not insured for this kind of event,” said Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson. “We hope that these neighbors will be able to rebuild and restore their homes quickly, and low-interest loans would go a long way to making that happen.”
“Governor Beshear, Mayor Abramson, and I are committed to doing everything possible to secure federal assistance for our community,” said Congressman John Yarmuth. “Today, I am calling on President Obama to expedite federal relief so that Louisville families and business owners can fully recover in the aftermath of another devastating storm.”
At the height of the storm, the Kentucky Public Service Commission estimates that approximately 20,000 homes were without power. As of this morning, LG&E indicates that power has been restored to all homes across the metro area, including those who lost power during yesterday’s storms as well.
If Louisville qualifies for federal disaster assistance, this most recent storm will be the third federal disaster in 11 months: the September 2008 windstorm, January 2009’s ice storm and last week’s flooding.
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View the executive order issued today by Governor Beshear (PDF)
View the letter sent to President Obama (PDF)