Governor Mike Dunleavy has requested a federal disaster declaration for the 2022 September West Coast Storm that impacted Alaska. The governor issued a state disaster declaration for the storm immediately upon receiving the request from Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director, Brian Fisher on Saturday morning.
The request for federal assistance asked the President to issue a declaration of a major disaster and activate federal public and individual grant programs. The request also asks that the President provide for a 100% federal share through the declaration, to support Alaska’s rural, insular, and predominantly Alaska Native communities impacted by this historic event.
In talking about the Federal Disaster Declaration, Fisher said on Sunday night:
“We’re going to be working with them to do the assessment piece, but once we make the request for federal assistance, and that comes in, that’s really a backstop that will provide additional financial support. The governor’s disaster programs that have been activated since Saturday morning will provide essentially the upfront cash to do this response to repair utilities, to repair homes, and if we move forward with FEMA both on the infrastructure side and for homeowners, if that’s approved by the president, then that will be additional financial resources that we’ll come to bear for the long-term rebuilding and recovery.”
Fisher added:
“The funding will come primarily from the state right now under the governor’s declaration. Moving into the future, FEMA will reimburse us for some of those costs. There’s usually a share between 75%. FEMA will reimburse us and the 25% the state will continue to pick up in the long-term, but it will be on the back end there that the financial assistance will be coming this way.”
The process for requesting a federal disaster declaration includes:
- An initial damage assessment in order to declare an amount that would be included in the disaster request.
- The Governor requesting federal assistance.
- A joint Preliminary Damage Assessment conducted by FEMA, The State Emergency Operation Center (SEOC), and local partners and tribes to determine losses and recovery needs.
- The President approving the request for federal disaster funding or FEMA informing the Governor it has been denied. This decision process could take a few hours or several weeks.
The state declaration that the governor issued over the weekend ensured local and tribal governments, state agencies, and non-governmental partners would have the authority and funding to conduct any necessary life, health, and safety steps and quickly restore food, water, power, fuel, communications, and transportation. The State’s Public and Individual Assistance programs were activated as well. The governor also requested that Small Business Administration disaster loan programs be activated for businesses impacted by the disaster and homeowners with damages. In addition, the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program will be funded through the federal disaster declaration for future infrastructure and resilience projects in the state.
According to the office of Governor Dunleavy, FEMA disaster assistance falls into three general categories. They include Individual Assistance, which is aid to individuals and households; Public Assistance, which is aid to the public, and certain private non-profit entities, for certain emergency services and the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged public facilities; and Hazard Mitigation Assistance, which is funding for measures designed to reduce future losses to public and private property.
Governor Dunleavy and members of the DMVA and DHS&EM visited the affected communities on Monday to assess damages.
