BISMARCK – Gov. Jack Dalrymple is asking President Obama for federal funding to help four counties in western North Dakota recover from flood damage caused by heavy rain in August.
Dalrymple sent a letter Tuesday requesting a federal disaster declaration for Burke, Dunn, McKenzie and Mercer counties, which racked up recovery costs estimated at about $1.41 million after five days of heavy rain that began Aug. 20.
The storm system produced the region’s wettest August on record, dumping up to 10.5 inches of rain south of Dunn Center and flooding fields and homes, overtopping and undercutting roads and bridges and washing out culverts, according to the governor’s office. North Dakota as a whole experienced its fourth wettest August in 120 years.
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The flooding also damaged storm drain systems, sewer pump stations and trail systems. About 170 feet of roadway slid down a canyon in McKenzie County after floodwater undermined the roadbed, the governor’s office said.
Dalrymple has asked that the Federal Emergency Management Agency make federal cost-share funding available through its Public Assistance Program to cover 75 percent of the costs of repairing damage to public infrastructure.
On Aug. 19, FEMA approved Dalrymple’s request for a disaster declaration to help nine counties and the Standing Rock Indian Reservation repair roughly $1.05 million in damages caused by a series of heavy rainstorms from June 18 to July 1.
