MARCH 29, 2023:
President Joe Biden and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have approved additional assistance for three South Dakota counties affected by severe winter storms in December (Dec. 12-25, 2022).
Ziebach County has been approved for funding under FEMA’s Public Assistance Program, while Jackson and Oglala Lakota counties have been approved for snow removal assistance in addition to their prior approval for the Public Assistance Program. Snow removal assistance funding allows for local jurisdictions to be reimbursed for costs for a 48-hour period of snow removal activities.
To date, the Public Assistance Program has been approved for Bennett, Brookings, Clark, Day, Deuel, Hamlin, Jackson, Jones, Kingsbury, Mellette, Oglala Lakota, Potter, Roberts, Stanley, Todd, Tripp and Ziebach counties.
Federal funding for snow removal assistance during or proximate to the storms is available for Bennett, Jackson, Jones, Mellette, Oglala Lakota, Stanley, Todd and Tripp counties. Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.
Last month (February 2023), Governor Kristi Noem signed Executive Order 2023-03 which declared a disaster in the impacted counties.
The State Office of Emergency Management, which is an office within the Department of Public Safety, is working with FEMA on the disaster declaration.
FEBRUARY 28, 2023:
President Joe Biden and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have approved a major disaster declaration for 16 counties in South Dakota affected by severe winter storms in December (Dec. 12-25, 2022).
Federal funding is available to eligible state, tribal and local governments, as well as certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protective measures and the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged facilities in Jones, Stanley, Todd, Tripp, Potter, Bennett, Brookings, Clark, Day, Deuel, Hamlin, Jackson, Kingsbury, Mellette, Oglala Lakota and Roberts counties.
In addition, federal funding is available on a cost-sharing basis for snow assistance for a continuous 48-hour period during or proximate to the incident period for Jones, Mellette, Stanley, Todd, Tripp and Bennett counties.
Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.
Kenneth G. Clark has been named the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas. Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further assessments.
JANUARY 27, 2023:
South Dakota US Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) and U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) sent two letters of support to President Joe Biden regarding the major disaster declaration requests from the Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (RST). If the president approves each tribes’ declaration request, it would expedite recovery efforts from significant weather events that occurred from December 12-26, 2022.
“As you are aware, the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013 allows federally recognized Native American tribes to directly request an emergency declaration from the President through a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Regional Administrator,” wrote the delegation.
“As the disaster declaration request indicates, tribal officials responded to the storms using resources immediately available to them,” the delegation continued. “The emergency operations conducted by the tribe reduced the storms’ impact and accelerated the recovery of tribal communities. Despite these efforts, a number of tribal members remained trapped in their homes and were unable to access necessary supplies.”
The delegation wrote in strong support of the tribes’ declaration requests, which were in response to extreme blizzard conditions affecting the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and the Rosebud Indian Reservation. These areas received up to three feet of snow with drifts up to 20 feet high. As a result, hundreds of families in tribal communities were unable to access critical supplies, including medications and propane and firewood to heat homes. In addition to snowfall, wind chill temperatures dropped to -50°F in some tribal communities.
Read the full text of the letter supporting the OST’s request HERE and the RST’s request HERE.
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