SALT LAKE CITY — Entities that received significant damage because of a windstorm that swept across Utah in early September are now eligible to receive FEMA public assistance funding.
The funding became available when President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration for damage caused by the storm on September 7 and 8.
Funding will be made available in Davis, Morgan, Salt Lake and Weber counties, all of which suffered major damage because of hurricane force winds that uprooted trees, destroyed houses, and knocked out power to thousand of Utah homes.
Read: Governor declares state of emergency in Utah following destructive windstorm
The declaration also provides for the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to be available for other projects throughout the state.
In a statement, the Utah Division of Emergency Management (DEM) Director, Kris Hamlet expressed appreciation for additional support in rebuilding Utah after a year of crisis.
"We appreciate the support of FEMA and the President in approving this latest disaster declaration for Utah. We've been very busy this past year responding to numerous emergencies and disasters, but now is the time to move forward with recovery and mitigation efforts,"Hamlet said. "The resources provided under this declaration will help those areas impacted the most to be able to offset costs incurred to respond to the wind storm, and in some cases to implement mitigation efforts to minimize future impacts from such an event."
This is the third presidential disaster declaration for Utah involving disasters which occurred in 2020.
The first declaration is ongoing and was made on April 4, 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic.
The second declaration was pushed on July 9, 2020 for damage from the 5.7 magnitude Magna earthquake that happened in mid-March.
