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Presidential Disaster Declared for 34 KY Counties

Matt Markgraf, WKMS news

Several West Kentucky Counties will receive disaster aid for damage resulting from severe weather that occurred February 21 through March 21 of this year.

President Trump authorized assistance for 34 counties that need to repair roads, bridges and other infrastructure due to severe storms, tornadoes, flooding and other natural disasters that occurred in the region.

Governor Matt Bevin said, “This federal assistance will provide more than one-quarter of our counties with important resources as they continue recovery efforts, and I am appreciative to our local and state emergency management teams for their assistance throughout this process.  Let’s all continue to work together to help our communities with their recovery.” 

The storms caused an estimated $24.7 million in damages statewide, with 75 percent of that damage inflicted on highways, bridges and local infrastructure. Four Kentucky residents died.

Counties included in this declaration are:  Boyd, Bullitt, Butler, Caldwell, Campbell, Carlisle, Carroll, Carter, Crittenden, Fulton, Gallatin, Grant, Graves, Greenup, Hancock, Hardin, Henderson, Henry, Hickman, Jefferson, Kenton, Lawrence, Livingston, McCracken, McLean, Metcalfe, Ohio, Owen, Spencer, Trigg, Trimble, Union, Washington and Webster.

Nicole Erwin is a Murray native and started working at WKMS during her time at Murray State University as a Psychology undergraduate student. Nicole left her job as a PTL dispatcher to join the newsroom after she was hired by former News Director Bryan Bartlett. Since, Nicole has completed a Masters in Sustainable Development from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia where she lived for 2 1/2 years.