President Biden Approves Request For Federal Emergency Declaration In Oklahoma

President Joe Biden approved a request Thursday morning from the state of Oklahoma for a federal emergency declaration.

Gov. Kevin Stitt requested the declaration due to the severe winter storms that impacted the state, beginning on Feb. 8.

The White House released the following letter on the federal emergency declaration:

Yesterday, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that an emergency exists in the State of Oklahoma and ordered federal assistance to supplement state, tribal, and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from a severe winter storm beginning on February 8, 2021, and continuing.

The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in all 77 Oklahoma counties.

Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Emergency protective measures for mass care and sheltering and direct federal assistance will be provided at 75 percent federal funding.

Robert J. Fenton, Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Adam D. Burpee as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas.