Trump approves disaster declaration, will visit Iowa Tuesday
The major disaster declaration will provide nearly $4 billion in federal disaster relief.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at the Values Voter Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019 in Washington, D.C. The appearance at the Summit comes as evangelical leaders this week criticized Trump’s decision to stand down U.S. forces in northern Syria.
August 17, 2020
President Trump approved a federal disaster declaration for Iowa on Monday, a week after a derecho hit the state, leaving severe damage and widespread power outages. The president will also be visiting Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a press conference.
Reynolds submitted an application for the declaration on Sunday, and Trump told reporters Monday morning that he had approved it.
“I’ve just approved an emergency declaration for Iowa, which had an incredible wind storm like probably they’ve never seen before,” Trump said before departing for a visit to Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Trump also said he would be making a visit to Iowa, and Reynolds confirmed during her press conference Monday that he will be visiting Cedar Rapids on Tuesday.
The declaration includes nearly $4 billion in federal disaster relief to Iowa, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
The disaster declaration request came almost a week after the storm swept through much of Iowa and left hundreds of thousands without power. Amid complaints that her disaster response has been delayed, Reynolds said the process was done in a “remarkable” timeline. Reynolds said the declaration took longer than previous emergencies — like the emergency declaration following the 2008 tornado in Parkersburg, Iowa, which was approved in less than 24 hours — because the version the governor pursued included more funding sources and required a wider assessment of damage.
“The route that we went this time, it’s more substantive and really it provides more programming, and we set a record in getting it done,” Reynolds said.
Power outages persist across the state, with more than 44,000 people in Linn County still without power, according to poweroutage.us.
More than 72 percent of homes and businesses across the state that were impacted by the storm have had power returned, Senior Vice President of Utility Operations at Alliant Energy Terry Kouba said at the press conference. Kouba said at least 90 percent of Alliant customers will have their power restored by the end of the day on Tuesday.
“I’d like to thank our employees, everyone working side by side with us to restore service to our customers,” he said. “They are truly the superheroes, and they will not quit until we have all the lights on.”