President Biden’s statement will make it easier to move resources to California, where storms have caused loss of life and extensive damage
President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for California and ordered federal assistance to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in areas affected by severe winter storms, flooding, mudslides, and mudslides that began on December 27, 2022 and on.
The president’s action is a step beyond declaring a state of emergency and also makes federal funds available to affected people in Merced, Sacramento and Santa Cruz counties, according to the statement released by the White House.
The President may declare a major disaster for any natural or man-made event determined to have caused damage of such severity that it is beyond the combined capabilities of state and local governments to respond.
A major disaster declaration triggers a wide range of federal assistance programs for people and public infrastructure.
According to the White House statement, this help “may include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover losses from uninsured property” as well as help for business owners.At this time, the damages caused by the heavy rains in California continue to be evaluated and the government does not rule out the designation of federal aid in other areas once the evaluations are completed.
For the past two weeks, several storms caused by atmospheric rivers have caused the death of at least 19 people and extensive material damage due to floods, landslides and drains that have damaged highways in the state.
The latest in a series of powerful storm fronts driven by atmospheric rivers struck California again on Saturday and the state continues to grapple with heavy rain, flooding, strong surf and mudslides that caused widespread damage and forced thousands to evacuate.
There could be a brief lull on Sunday morning before another wave of heavy precipitation begins to fall in California from Sunday to Monday, though it is expected to be lighter than what the state has seen through Saturday.