Now back to Kentucky.
The 2020 floods throughout eastern Kentucky left behind hundreds of thousands of tons of troublesome debris that blocked roads and clogged waterways.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, announced last week that it's giving the state nearly $21 million to pay for some of that debris removal.
But as Kentucky additions June LaFleur reports, the money can only pay for what's already been cleaned up.
Not for what's still left behind.
Well, the cleanup is mostly done in eastern Kentucky, but we just awarded $20 million, just over $20 million to Kentucky Emergency Management to reimburse them for the debris removal.
The funds will pay for some of the work done in the first four months of the disaster.
So they were given dates that it would be completed at.
And so it was done months ago.
But the paperwork usually is the thing that takes the longest.
State agencies and their hired contractors did that work.
Kentucky Emergency Management said it is, quote, grateful for the hard work of the transportation cabinet and FEMA's dedication shown to the debris mission from catastrophic floods in eastern Kentucky.
This award will reimburse existing costs incurred during response and recovery efforts.
The transportation cabinet was charged and deployed to remove debris from the roadways and waterways, a mission that spanned for one year.
At this time, local officials are responsible for managing any remaining debris.
Eastern Kentucky officials say cleanups are coming to a close, but not everyone had their scraps picked up.
Jerry Stacey is Perry County's emergency management director.
There are some some properties that, you know, I think that people didn't have an opportunity to because of the impact of the displacement, was, you know, able to get you know, might be everything there.
But the ones that utilized it, you know, it made a huge difference.
There's no question.
Floyd County judge executive Robbie Williams said, quote, We really did a good job of removing debris, but many of our neighboring counties still have a lot of issues.
Everything that FEMA will pay for has already been picked up and done.
Now we're in the stage where if there's some kind of unmet need, then the long term recovery groups in each of the communities work with nonprofits to clean up things that some people might have just started.
For instance, cleaning up their houses.
So they obviously miss the cut off for debris removal.
But there are other ways that we can make sure that that the debris gets picked up.
Now, FEMA is moving forward with permanent housing solutions in the region.
So we're actually selling some of the manufactured housing that people are living in.
That word, disaster survivors.
We're giving them the opportunity to purchase the unit they're living in.
So some people have done that.
There's also ten people that are eligible to move into Whitesburg.
It's called the Cottages at Thompson Branch.
And they're eligible to purchase those units and those hopefully will be announced in the next month or so.
And that's going to be a community right at the top of the mountain in Whitesburg.
A Kentucky transportation Cabinet official told lawmakers earlier this year that total debris removal has cost $200 million, which came from the state's rainy day fund.
For Kentucky Edition, I'm June Lefler.
Thank you, Jim.
Now we're nearing the two year anniversary of another natural disaster in the state, the 2021 tornadoes that devastated western Kentucky.
FEMA is still working on that disaster.
It announced last week that it's reimbursing the state $1.9 million that it spent to restore Mayfield's electrical and water systems last month.
Governor Andy Beshear, his office, said nearly 150 homebuilding projects are underway or completed to house those displaced by the tornadoes.