Trump approves Iowa disaster declaration

President Trump on Saturday approved a disaster declaration for the state of Iowa amid massive flooding and storms that have damaged tens of thousands of homes in the state.

The White House announced Saturday afternoon that Trump had approved federal disaster relief funding for individual residents in five of Iowa’s 99 counties, while local governments and private nonprofits in dozens of other counties would be able to apply for additional federal funding.

{mosads}”Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster,” the White House said.

Trump’s disaster declaration for the state follows an estimate from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) on Friday that set the price tag on flood damage in the state at $1.6 billion, according to the Des Moines Register.

“Today’s announcement from President Trump approving our emergency declaration will be instrumental to Iowa’s recovery. We are incredibly grateful for the President’s consistent and timely action in the face of disaster. The road to recovery will be long, but it’s clear that Iowans will have the resources we need to rebuild,” Reynolds said in a statement released by her office on Saturday.

“We are not only doing response, but we’ve shifted,” she told reporters a day earlier, according to the Register. “We’re in recovery mode right now.”

The declaration comes two days after Trump issued an order following flooding in Nebraska, where it is estimated residents face $85 billion in flood-related damage.

Reynolds, along with Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R), toured the site of some damage with Vice President Pence earlier in the week.

After the trip, Pence told Trump that “it was some of the worst flooding he had ever seen in his life,” Ricketts said, according to NPR.