JACKSON, Miss. 鈥 President Donald Trump green-lit disaster relief for eight states Friday, assistance that some of the communities rocked by natural disasters waited on for months.
The major disaster declaration approvals allow Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas access to financial support through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Several states requested the aid in response to damage from a massive storm system in mid-March.
Brian Lowery stands before what remains of his home, which was ripped apart by a tornado, in Tylertown, Miss., on May 15.
"This support will go a long way in helping Mississippi to rebuild and recover. Our entire state is grateful for his approval," said Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, whose state experienced 18 tornados between March 14 and 15,聽leaving seven people dead and hundreds of homes destroyed or damaged.
Mississippi residents in the hard-hit Walthall County expressed frustration earlier this month over how long they had been waiting for federal help. The county's emergency manager said debris removal operations stalled in early May when the county ran out of money while awaiting federal assistance. It sunk an estimated $700,000 into cleaning up the damage.
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While Mississippi waited, a similar major disaster declaration request out of Arkansas after the storms hit was denied, appealed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and finally approved May 13.
Debris still covers the ground at the Paradise Ranch RV Resort in the Tylertown, Miss., on May 15, two months after a tornado decimated the community.
FEMA did not immediately respond to questions about what prompted Friday's flurry of approvals.
Earlier this past week Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem vowed to expedite Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe's request for disaster assistance, after being pressed on the issue by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican.
"That is one of the failures that FEMA has had in the past is that people who incur this kind of damage and lose everything sit there for months and sometimes years and never get the promised critical response that they think or that they believe they should be getting from the federal government," Noem said.
Trump pointed to wait times as one reason he's looking to make major changes to FEMA.聽
The agency's acting administrator, Cameron Hamilton, recently聽was ousted after he publicly disagreed with Trump's proposal to get "rid of FEMA."
David Richardson, the new acting administrator, committed himself to executing Trump's vision for the agency. He also previewed potential policy changes, saying there could be "more cost-sharing with states" and that FEMA would coordinate federal assistance "when deemed necessary."
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This story was updated to reflect that Trump approved the disaster relief for Mississippi and other states.
Steve Romero, comforts his fiancee, Hailey Hart, right, March 16 after recalling how the couple and their three dogs rode out a tornado in their small automobile in Tylertown, Miss.
Trey Bridges, 16, climbs a mountain of tornado debris March 16 to help a family recover items not destroyed by a damaging tornado a day earlier in Tylertown, Miss.
