President Trump approves disaster declaration after flooding in Tennessee

President Donald Trump approved a disaster declaration on Wednesday for the state of Tennessee, making federal funds available to help repair damage from flooding and severe storms earlier this year.

The funding is available to help state and local governments and certain nonprofit organizations repair damage to facilities affected by storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides from Feb. 19 to March 30.

A total of 56 counties were listed in the declaration, including Blount, Campbell, Cocke, Grainger, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins, Jefferson, Knox, Sevier and Union.

Federal funding also is available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

February flooding:State of Tennessee files for FEMA disaster relief for 58 counties

“The devastating flooding and severe weather required a comprehensive response and stretched many local jurisdictions to their resource limits,” Gov. Bill Lee said in a news release Wednesday. “For the counties working to rebuild bridges, roads, utilities, and other infrastructure, this federal assistance will support their recovery efforts.

The state's emergency management agency requested federal assistance in early March after storms caused more than $80 million in damages to the state's transportation network, according to the release.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation executed more than 50 emergency contracts to repair nearly 300 locations in 73 counties, the release says. TDOT has received $10 million in federal disaster relief funds.

In Knox County, the floods totaled an estimated $43.5 million in damage. Much of that — $32.4 million of it — was done to business and residential property based on appraised property values and the other $11 million is public sector damage.

Not fast money

The federal cash granted to the state and counties are reimbursement dollars which could take years to reach individual counties, Knoxville-Knox County Emergency Management Agency Director Colin Ickes said.

"The reimbursable costs are related to the government's costs of the emergency response, such as overtime for emergency responders and also damage repairs related to the floods such as the large sinkhole on Greenwell Rd. (in Knox County)," he said in an emailed response.

The county isn't sitting around waiting for the state to give money so they can finish cleaning up areas impacted by the floods, Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs said. It doesn't work that way.

The dollars also are only for local governments, not individual homes and businesses. A separate declaration, for Individual Assistance, could be made for citizens, though Knox County did not meet the threshold for damage for these funds.

It's possible, Ickes said, that Sevier County could be rewarded dollars in Individual Assistance and that Knox County could see a handful of those dollars since it is an adjoining county, but those decisions have not yet been made by the federal government.

Staff reporter Tyler Whetstone contributed to this report.