Twelve Tennessee counties will receive federal aid to help with recovery from severe storms over Memorial Day weekend, Gov. Bill Haslam announced Friday.
Severe storms and straight-line winds moved through the area the night of Saturday, May 27, knocking down trees and power lines across several East Tennessee counties.
National Weather Service survey teams found no evidence of tornado paths, but said the wind damage was caused by an intense and fast-moving windstorm called a derecho.
Haslam requested federal public assistance for 12 counties that suffered a lot of damage from the storms.
Friday evening, Haslam announced the request has been granted through a Presidential Disaster Declaration.
“Local, state and federal partners came together in a collaborative effort to assess impacts rapidly so we could have accurate storm damage data and illustrate our need for a disaster declaration to President Trump,” Haslam said in a statement. “I am grateful to all the first responders, emergency managers and community members who have united to help others recover from the impact of these storms.”
The counties included in the Presidential Declaration are Blount, Cumberland, Fayette, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, Putnam, Rhea, Roane, Sevier, Shelby and Smith.
The counties are now eligible for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Public Assistance program, which allows government entities to apply for reimbursement of eligible expenses.
In Blount County, the cost of emergency response, debris removal, and infrastructure repair amounted to at least $2.7 million, according to Blount County Emergency Management Director Lance Coleman.
"The Blount County Highway Department had a huge expenditure for this because they had to clear a lot of the brush," he said.
In addition to public assistance, Coleman said the county had also applied for individual homeowner assistance, but not enough homes suffered damage to qualify.
Homeowners, renters and business owners who were affected by the storm can, however, apply for Small Business Administration loans. SBA representatives are stationed at the Blount County Operations Center at 1221 McArthur Rd. in Maryville from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. until Thursday.
There has been no decision yet on Haslam's request for Individual Assistance for Shelby County.