One third of all Kansas counties are now eligible for emergency disaster assistance as a result of flooding and tornadoes. Fifteen more counties were added over the weekend.
President Trump made the declaration, offering federal help to affected states.
The designation makes the counties eligible for federal support and resources in addition to state and local help to rebuild from the storm damage.
The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the counties
Counties added to federal list include Allen, Doniphan, Dickinson, Douglas, Geary, Jefferson, Leavenworth, Linn, Lyon, Marshall, Morris, Pottawatomie, Riley, Salina and Wabaunsee.
The 18 counties included in the original federal declaration were Anderson, Butler, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Coffey, Cowley, Crawford, Elk, Franklin, Greenwood, Harvey, Montgomery, Neosho, Osage, Reno, Sumner, Wilson and Woodson.
An emergency declaration supplements state and local government efforts for required emergency measures to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe through direct federal assistance for emergency protective measures.