LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) – Governor Andy Beshear posted to Facebook on Wednesday that President Donald Trump has approved public assistance funding for counties affected by severe weather events in April and May.
An E-F tornado hit parts of Southern and Eastern Kentucky a little less than a month after major flooding in April, both events changing the lives of many families.
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With Gov. Beshear’s announcement of PA money making its way to affected counties, Mayor of London, Randall Weddle, said he is excited for what the money could do to rebuild the city.
Mayor Weddle said as of July, the city of London has spent $1.1 million on recovery.
“You can’t plan for a tornado. You don’t foresee that coming. So, it’s not in your budget that we need to have $1 million lying for a tornado,” Weddle said.
He said a significant portion covered overtime for first responders and public works employees who worked extended hours during the emergency, as well as rental costs for recovery equipment and disposal fees.
With the public assistance funds, county officials say that having the possibility of reimbursement will be helpful in many aspects.
Mayor Weddle said it is a more complex process, and a check will not be directly handed to the counties affected.
“You got to figure the state’s going to get reimbursement, the county’s going to get reimbursement, the city’s going to get reimbursement,” he said. “It’s only how we’ve documented. We almost It’s almost like we have to submit like a grant process showing that we have this expense and we get reimbursed for that expense.”
As the cleaning process is coming to an end, the hope and focus is to continue rebuilding the community.
“To be able to have the opportunity and maybe get some of that money back, if not all of it, is really good because we took from funds that was going to be updating infrastructure throughout the city,” Weddle said.
If you are interested in donating or helping those affected by the tornado, the Hope for London organization is accepting monetary donations and building supplies to aid in rebuilding efforts.
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