Home Kaine, Warner, Griffith push Trump, again, on Southwest Virginia flood relief
Virginia

Kaine, Warner, Griffith push Trump, again, on Southwest Virginia flood relief

Chris Graham
road closed sign
(© Tony Campbell – stock.adobe.com)

What’s going on with Donald Trump and the extended delay on the requested disaster declaration for Southwest Virginia?

Trump took what his PR flunkies called “decisive action” on Feb. 25 to approve a disaster declaration for neighboring Kentucky, in the face of widespread flooding that affected the Kentucky-Southwest Virginia-West Virginia region.

Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and Ninth District Congressman Morgan Griffith have been leading a bipartisan push to get the Trump folks moving on the Virginia part of the disaster.

They made their first request way back on Feb. 17.

Maybe Trump is playing political games with Virginia because the Commonwealth didn’t vote for him any of the three times he ran for president.

He shouldn’t be punishing Southwest Virginia for that. Southwest is about as MAGA as you can get.

Highlights from the latest letter from Kaine, Warner and Griffith to Trump 2.0:

“Unfortunately, this storm has resulted in at least four fatalities, caused significant damage to regional infrastructure, left over 203,000 customers without power at its peak, caused over 270 road closures including low water bridges and road washouts, resulted in multiple 9-1-1 center outages,” said the lawmakers. “The towns of Grundy and Hurley (Buchanan County) experienced catastrophic flooding, with the river gauges in these towns spiking historical flood levels. Over 150 swift water rescues, including evacuations, were made. The ability to perform thorough damage assessments has been hampered by access to areas, the safety of damage assessment teams, and stretched local capacity due to ongoing recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene.”

“Since the initial request for an expedited Major Disaster Declaration, additional impacts have been revealed now that post-storm assessments are taking place,” they continued. “This amended expedited Major Disaster Declaration would ensure the availability of key federal resources to support the Commonwealth’s efforts to guarantee public safety and rapid recovery from the direct and indirect effects of this destructive storm event.”

He’s making us beg, isn’t he?

Support AFP




Multimedia

 

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].

Latest News

ben cline
Virginia

Why is Ben Cline so concerned about the Daughters of the American Revolution?

uva football beau pribula
Football

The Athletic ranks QBs from 1-138: Where does UVA’s Beau Pribula fit in?

Sam Khan Jr. and Antonio Morales at The Athletic put their names to a ranking of the 138 projected starting quarterbacks in FCS football this week.

tv
Virginia

State AGs fighting merger of Trump-friendly broadcast companies Nexstar, Tegna

A bipartisan group of state AGs is raising issue with the efforts of broadcast companies Tegna and Nexstar Media Group to continue toward a merger in violation of a preliminary injunction issued earlier this year.

police court law
Local

Local animal care nonprofit head found guilty in animal cruelty case

steven wayne erickson pulaski
Virginia

Justice Department charges Pulaski Town Council member in CSAM case

car accident crash police
Local

Rockingham County: State Police identify victim in fatal pedestrian crash

glenn youngkin
Virginia

Glenn Youngkin is the latest former Virginia governor to cash in on his political ties