Seven more Iowa counties, Sac and Fox Tribe eligible for FEMA derecho aid

DES MOINES - The Federal Emergency Management Agency has made assistance available to public entities and nonprofits in seven additional Iowa counties as well as the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa in the wake of the Aug. 10 derecho, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Friday.

FEMA officials said Greene, Grundy, Guthrie, Hardin, Iowa, Jackson and Washington counties have been added to a presidential disaster declaration issued Aug. 17, which made public entities and select nonprofits in 16 counties eligible to apply for the federal Public Assistance Program.

The counties initially approved for public assistance funding are Benton, Boone, Cedar, Clinton, Dallas, Jasper, Johnson, Jones, Linn, Marshall, Muscatine, Polk, Poweshiek, Scott, Story and Tama, according to the governor's office.

The Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa this week received a separate presidential disaster declaration, which made tribe members eligible to apply for the federal Public Assistance Program. Funding for that program may be used for emergency work and the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged facilities, officials said.