Montana Governor Requests Federal Disaster Relief After Missoula Storm

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Governor Greg Gianforte has officially requested a major presidential disaster declaration after the July 24 windstorm that caused millions in damage all over Missoula and Western Montana.

Read the Governor’s official request here.

In the letter, Gianforte wrote “On the evening of July 24, 2024, long-lasting thunderstorms produced strong damaging winds in west-central Montana, particularly in the Missoula County area,” he began. “When these thunderstorms settled into the Missoula area, they produced gusts of winds of 109 mph on Mt. Sentinel, 81 mph at the Missoula Airport, and an estimated 90-100 mph winds throughout the city of Missoula.”

Governor Gianforte Requests Federal Disaster Funds after Windstorm

Governor Gianforte recently visited Missoula and spoke about the possibility of federal assistance.

READ MORE: Governor Reviews Missoula Storm Recovery, Promises Aid

“The disaster declaration that I signed at the beginning of this emergency authorizes the state general funds out of our emergency reserves to pay for up to 75 percent of the cost of the recovery,” began Governor Gianforte. “That's what allowed us to bring the National Guard in to help with water and ice in that critical initial period. If public infrastructure damage reaches a total of $2 million or more, we're eligible for additional reimbursement from the federal government,” he said. “We're currently in the process of tabulating that. It looks like we're going to get to that so that'll end up paying for 100 percent of the cost of recovery related to public infrastructure.”

The Governor's Letter to President Biden is Attached

Gianforte wrote,

“Dear Mr. President,

Under the provisions of Section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, I respectfully request a major disaster declaration for the Windstorm disaster that occurred on July 24, 2024. I am requesting the counties of Missoula and Powell to be included in this declaration.”

In addition, Gianforte wrote,

“This storm event involved damaging high winds which created widespread damage and debris throughout the City of Missoula, Missoula County, and Powell County. The majority of the debris is vegetative, consisting of trees that had limbs ripped off, broken trunks, or were completely uprooted. The wind downed multiple power lines throughout the county leaving several thousand people without power for up to eight days. The factors listed above make recovery from this disaster beyond the capabilities of the local emergency fund and the Montana State Disaster Fund.”

OEM Director Adriane Beck said Federal Help could Come within 30 Days

I spoke with Adriane Beck, Director of Disaster and Emergency Services for Missoula County about the governor’s request.

“As folks will recall, we locally had both the County Commission and the city declare local emergencies, which is kind of step one of this process,” began Beck. “Then within about 24 to 48 hours, we knew that we were going to exceed our local emergency threshold, and asked Governor Gianforte to declare a state emergency, which he did, and then the third step is working closely with the state of Montana to understand the scale and scope of the damages that were felt here in Missoula county-wide.”

Beck said her meetings on the ground with FEMA representatives were fruitful.

“We met with representatives from FEMA Region 8 last week to kind of ground through some of the damages that we had collected at that point, as well as the work that still remains ahead of us in what they call a joint preliminary damage assessment,” she said. “The findings from that were sufficient to ask and request that Governor Gianforte pass that up to request a Presidential Disaster Declaration, which, if granted, then frees up FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to provide financial assistance to local governments in order to help us in our recovery process.”

Beck then presented a possible timeline for that federal assistance to begin.

“We've already had the on-site visit by representatives from FEMA, and at this point, it's just the procedural kind of ‘time machine’ of it going through those, different steps at the federal level,” she said. “We've seen it turn around in as quickly as 30 days, and sometimes it takes a little bit longer than that. We're hopeful that you know, within the next month we will have that final determination.”

During Gianforte’s visit, he met and spoke with several community members who were taking advantage of the storm debris disposal site.