Today, Rep. Tom Reed announced he delivered a letter to President Donald Trump requesting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provide disaster recovery assistance to Chemung, Seneca, Steuben and Tioga counties following the devastating flooding experienced last month.

“We care about the people whose lives were turned upside down this August,” Tom said. “We asked the President to help with flooding recovery because we want to ensure the families who need help have fair access to the assistance they deserve.

“We will continue to keep close contact with our local public officials and the White House to ensure everything which can be done to help people is being done,” Tom concluded.

Tom urged the President to declare a major disaster, authorized by the Stafford Act, as a result of the damage caused from severe storms on August 13 through August 18, 2018.

Tom recognizes this declaration is critical to receive federal assistance to support recovery efforts in our area and informed the President the damage assessment exceeds the per person threshold used by FEMA.