President Donald Trump approved Mississippi’s major disaster declaration request on Friday, stating on social media that he is authorizing over $39 million in federal funding to help the state recover from Winter Storm Fern.
“I just spoke to the GREAT Governor of Mississippi, Tate Reeves, and told him I am approving $39.1 Million Dollars for the severe winter storm that they just experienced,” Trump wrote in an afternoon Truth Social post. “I love the people of Mississippi, and won big there, three times. We are with you all the way!”
A Mississippi Emergency Management Agency official confirmed to the Mississippi Free Press that the declaration has been approved but added that “the specifics have not been revealed yet.”
Reeves’ requested declaration on Feb. 3 included individual assistance requests for 36 counties and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians under the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to a Feb. 4 letter from Mississippi’s congressional delegation to the president. It also sought to help local governments in 38 counties with debris removal and infrastructure repairs through FEMA’s public assistance program. The letter does not name the counties that would qualify for assistance.
Trump’s Friday post does not specify which FEMA programs will be available to Mississippi as part of the emergency funding, nor does it indicate how many of the counties in the requested declaration will be eligible for assistance.
The approved declaration comes hours after MEMA announced that the death toll from Winter Storm Fern has reached 29 people statewide. Thousands of Mississippians remain without power heading into the weekend, the agency said Friday, and officials are still working to clear roads and fix power lines damaged by the severe weather.