Cars are flooded in a parking lot at the Hathaway Creative Center alongside the Kennebec River, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023, in Waterville, Maine. A severe storm on Monday flooded rivers and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands.
President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration that will help 10 counties in Maine after a storm caused severe flooding back in December, Gov. Janet Mills said Wednesday.
The storm caused power outages and damaged properties across central and western Maine, Mills said.
Biden also approved Mills' request to make direct assistance available to affected individuals and families that had their property significantly damaged, according to the governor.
"The President's approval unlocks federal relief funds that will help hard-hit Maine communities and families move forward from last month’s storm," Mills said in a release.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will set up Disaster Recover Centers in affected areas, Mills said, to help impacted residents with a variety of services, including with applying for disaster assistance, checking the status of FEMA applications and meeting with Small Business Administration agents.
"My administration will continue to do everything possible to help Maine recover from recent catastrophic weather events and to make our communities more resilient to the impacts of our changing climate," said Mills.
Biden's approval will make public assistance available that Maine will use to fix public infrastructure in Androscoggin, Franklin, Hancock, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, Waldo and Washington counties, Mills said.
Individual assistance will be made available to eligible families in Androscoggin, Franklin, Kennebec, Oxford and Somerset counties.
Eligibility and application information will be available at a later date by the Maine Emergency Management Agency at later date.
Mills said the major disaster declaration only pertains to the December storm and doesn't cover the Jan. 10 and Jan. 13 coastal flooding.
