President Donald Trump approved Mississippi’s major disaster declaration request on Friday, unlocking federal assistance for residents and local governments affected by 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 a Truth Social post on Friday afternoon. “I love the people of Mississippi, and won big there, three times. We are with you all the way!”
Under the approved declaration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will help cover infrastructure repairs through its public assistance program in the following counties: Alcorn, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Grenada, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Leflore, Montgomery, Sharkey, Sunflower, Warren, Washington, Webster and Yazoo counties and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
FEMA will also offer funding for emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance, in the following counties: Adams, Attala, Benton, Claiborne, Coahoma, DeSoto, Hinds, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lee, Marshall, Panola, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Tunica, Union and Yalobusha.
Reeves’ requested disaster declaration on Feb. 3 included individual assistance requests for 36 counties and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, a Feb. 4 letter from Mississippi’s congressional delegation to the president stated. It also contained public assistance requests for 38 counties—more than double the number approved in Friday’s declaration.
Scott Simmons, chief communications officer at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, expressed hope that additional counties will become eligible for federal aid as damage assessments continue across the state.
“This is a process,” Simmons told the Mississippi Free Press on Monday, noting that past disaster declarations have been amended and expanded to better reflect the event’s full toll. “Our hope for the residents of the state of Mississippi … is that the federal government will see the evidence and provide the assistance to help them recover.”
Friday’s approved declaration came shortly after MEMA announced that the death toll from Winter Storm Fern has reached 29 people statewide. Thousands of Mississippians remained without power heading into the weekend, the agency said Friday, and officials were still working to clear roads and fix power lines damaged by the severe weather.
Read more Winter Storm Fern coverage here.