FEMA makes disaster aid available for Washington, DC

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has made disaster funds available to the District of Columbia to pay for millions of dollars in damage from a massive thunderstorm on June 29.

President Obama declared D.C. a disaster zone on Tuesday.

“My thanks to President Obama for granting our request for a disaster declaration, thus making the District eligible for federal aid,” D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said Tuesday. “This assistance will help us recoup some of the millions of dollars of expenses the city incurred in ensuring that our streets were safe and our residents had food, water and shelter after the storms.”

FEMA outlined Wednesday that aid is available to pay for at least 75 percent of the cost to local government of repairing public facilities.

The line of thunderstorms, known as a derecho, left millions without power in the area for days. The local power company, Pepco, is studying whether to spend billions to put power lines underground.

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