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Trump declares disaster in Nebraska

President Trump has declared a disaster in Nebraska.  That clears the way for federal aid to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts.  Governor Pete Ricketts sent Trump an expedited request for federal assistance Tuesday and says he’s grateful for the quick approval.  Ricketts says Nebraskans have already been stepping up to begin the journey to recovering from the state’s most widespread natural disaster ever.

Monetary donations and individual offers of supplies and other assistance continue to flow into the state.  Nebraska ag director Steve Wellman says the offers of assistance on their hotline have outweighed the requests for help.  He tells Brownfield, “One-third of our phone calls have been asking for a need, have a request for a need, and two-thirds of the phone calls have been offers to provide assistance of some sort.”  Wellman says most of the requests for help are for feed and fencing supplies.

Individuals and businesses in nine counties can begin applying for assistance immediately.  Those counties are Butler, Cass, Colfax, Dodge, Douglas, Nemaha, Sarpy, Saunders, and Washington. 

Sixty-five additional counties are also eligible for aid through local governments and non-profit agencies, including the Santee Sioux Nation, Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, Sac and Fox, and Winnebago Tribe.

People can apply online at http://www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA(3362) or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. CDT.

Most of the state was affected by a severe winter storm followed by high winds and flooding beginning March 9^th. 

Brownfield’s Ken Anderson contributed to this report.