Winter Storm Recovery Funds Approved For Virginia Localities

VIRGINIA — Federal assistance was approved for the City of Fredericksburg and Stafford and Spotsylvania counties, along with other jurisdictions across the state, for damage caused by an early January winter storm.

The Jan. 2-3 winter storm dropped heavy snow across the state and stranded motorists along parts of Interstate 95 for as long as 24 hours. The assistance was made possible after the federal government approved Virginia's major disaster declaration.

The Virginia Department of Emergency Management will hold applicant briefings in the coming weeks to help inform potential grant applicants of the process for applying for and receiving federal grants. Applicants will have until April 10 to register and submit a request for public assistance in the FEMA Grants Portal.

“I thank the President and our federal partners and encourage all of our affected agencies and organizations in those counties to visit the portal and start the registration process so that we can build back our infrastructure and alleviate the damage caused by this major snow storm,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement Wednesday.

Local and state governments and eligible private nonprofit groups with infrastructure damage or emergency and debris removal expenditures may be reimbursed 75 percent of eligible costs. Individual households and private businesses are not eligible to apply for the grants.

The jurisdictions in Virginia that can apply for grants are the counties of Albemarle, Amelia, Appomattox, Bedford, Buckingham, Caroline, Charlotte, Culpeper, Cumberland, Essex, Fauquier, Fluvanna, Goochland, Greene, Hanover, King George, King William, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, Orange, Powhatan, Prince Edward, Rappahannock, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Westmoreland, and the city of Fredericksburg.