Beshear in Murray

By Carrie Pond

Murray, KY – Governor Steve Beshear was in Murray today as part of a tour around western Kentucky to survey the damage from last week's ice storms. The governor says he's proud of the way those at all levels handled the days following the natural disaster, especially first responders.

Beshear hopes President Obama will sign a major disaster declaration order this afternoon or tomorrow. He says that will start the process of getting local governments, emergency operations centers and universities reimbursed for previous and future recovery efforts. He says individual reimbursement could become available for home repairs and similar expenses, but Kentuckians will likely not be reimbursed for the cost of items like generators and fuel purchases.

"They've done a miraculous job under just dire circumstances. You know, this was a situation where most of our counties, especially in western Kentucky were just down. You know, it was a blackout- and folks just hitting the ground running. The system worked in terms of coming together; the officials just came together."