Major Disaster Declaration approved for Jan. 2-3 winter storm

Virginia has received federal assistance to designated localities through a Major Disaster Declaration for the Jan. 2-3 winter storm that dumped up to 14 inches of snow and closed a long stretch of Interstate 95 for more than 24 hours.

The Virginia Department of Emergency Management will hold Applicant Briefings in the coming weeks to help inform potential grant applicants of the process for applying for and receiving federal grants.

Applicants will have until April 10 to register and submit a Request for Public Assistance in the FEMA Grants Portal at grantee.fema.gov. This assistance is only for local, state, and eligible non-profit organizations and does not include individual households or private businesses.

“I am grateful for this approval of the Major Disaster Declaration which will expedite the recovery process,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said. “I thank the president and our federal partners and encourage all of our affected agencies and organizations in those counties to visit the portal and start the registration process so that we can build back our infrastructure and alleviate the damage caused by this major snow storm.”

Public assistance 

Local, state, and eligible private non-profit organizations with infrastructure damage or emergency and debris removal expenditures in the following designated areas may be reimbursed 75% of eligible costs.

The counties of Albemarle, Amelia, Appomattox, Bedford, Buckingham, Caroline, Charlotte, Culpeper, Cumberland, Essex, Fauquier, Fluvanna, Goochland, Greene, Hanover, King George, King William, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, Orange, Powhatan, Prince Edward, Rappahannock, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Westmoreland Counties and the independent city of Fredericksburg.

The FEMA Public Assistance program could take years to be fully reimbursed for disaster related expenditures. VDEM is the administrative agency for this grant program.

Snow assistance

Local, state, and eligible private non-profit organizations with storm related costs in King George and Stafford Counties may be eligible for reimbursement of 75 percent of snow removal costs for a period of 48 hours.

Hazard Mitigation Grant Program 

Virginia will receive funding for projects to reduce the future funding to homes, businesses, and infrastructure. This program could take 5-7 years to implement. The application phase of this program is 12 months, and then FEMA may take 6-18 months to award the project based on environmental and historic review compliance or technical feasibility review. Federal assistance is approved at 75 percent of the total eligible project costs. Local governments and state agencies will apply through the Virginia Department of Emergency Management as the administrating agency.