Friday Governor McAuliffe requested a federal disaster declaration to get help for Hampton Roads areas still recovering from Hurricane Matthew.
The Governor requested Individual Assistance Programs and Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loans for the cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach, as well as Isle of Wight and York counties.
“This storm severely impacted nine localities, causing significant damage to public and private property, essential infrastructure, agriculture, and eligible nonprofit organizations,” said Governor McAuliffe. “I have determined that the severity of destruction requires a response that is beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments and supplemental federal assistance is necessary. It is my hope that the President will approve this request and these localities and the Virginia families, businesses and nonprofits who reside in them can get resources to help with the ongoing effort to recover from this storm.”
If the declaration is granted, the programs would provide assistance to Virginians who need disaster housing, unemployment assistance, individual housing grants, legal services, and crisis counseling.
During damage assessments done by VDEM, FEMA, and the SBA, the organizations concluded that over 2,000 homes were determines to have damage from Matthew.
Many of the homes affected were uninsured because they are outside flood zones. The storm displaced about 620 people due to flooding.
The damage assessed to public facilities equates to about $13.2 million.
