DENVER – FEMA has approved an additional $2.2 million in Public Assistance funding to help Montanans recover from severe storms that impacted five northeast Montana counties in June of 2021. The assistance was made available under a major disaster declaration issued August 13, 2021. FEMA has now provided more than $2.4 million in total Public Assistance funds for the disaster recovery effort in northeast Montana to date.
FEMA Public Assistance funds were awarded to the Lower Yellowstone Rural Electric Cooperative for the cost of restoring electric service after straight-line winds caused extensive damage to the utility’s distribution and transmission systems in Richland County. The storms caused power outages beginning on June 10, 2021, as circuits from eight of the cooperative’s ten substations were faulted. To restore electrical service, the cooperative replaced a total of 334 power poles and 21 transformers along with the necessary hardware and crossarms, re-attached distribution lines to the replacement poles and replaced the roof of a substation building.
FEMA’s Public Assistance reimbursements are made on a cost-sharing basis to states, tribes, counties, municipalities, and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency work and restoration of infrastructure. The approved federal grant represents 90 percent of the total cost of the project.
FEMA’s Public Assistance program covers eligible disaster-related debris removal, emergency protective measures, and the repair or rebuilding of public facilities such as roads, bridges, water control facilities, buildings, equipment, public utilities, parks and recreational facilities.
Additional information about FEMA’s Public Assistance program can be found at www.fema.gov/assistance/public.