{"id":28041,"date":"2025-08-19T10:24:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T14:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mdem\/?p=28041"},"modified":"2025-08-19T10:24:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T14:24:16","slug":"governor-moore-appeals-western-maryland-disaster-declaration-denial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mdem\/2025\/08\/19\/governor-moore-appeals-western-maryland-disaster-declaration-denial\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor Moore Appeals Western Maryland Disaster Declaration Denial"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANNAPOLIS, MD \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>Governor Wes Moore today announced the\u00a0appeal<\/a>\u00a0of President Trump\u2019s denial for a Major Disaster Declaration for flooding that occurred in Western Maryland this past May. Maryland\u2019s initial request was denied on July 22 in a letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) which stated assistance to Maryland was deemed unwarranted. Since the President\u2019s initial denial, FEMA has validated an additional $17.9 million in damages, raising the total estimated damages to $33.7 million. This is nearly three times the State\u2019s Federal threshold for assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaryland has met long-standing criteria for FEMA support in the wake of historic floods across Mountain Maryland. And this appeal isn\u2019t simply justified, it\u2019s necessary,\u201d\u00a0said Gov. Moore.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cI have stood shoulder to shoulder with Marylanders in Allegany and Garrett Counties, who are still recovering from an unthinkable catastrophe. They are calling on us to support them in this hour of need, and that\u2019s exactly what we will continue to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the days following the flooding, Allegany and Garrett counties conducted joint preliminary damage assessments in coordination with the Maryland Department of Emergency Management and FEMA. Maryland requested that the president issue a Major Disaster Declaration and public assistance funding after meeting the FEMA-established assistance thresholds. The intensive process validated damages to critical and public infrastructure eligible for public assistance funding.<\/p>\n

Historically, if the joint damage assessment process demonstrates eligible costs over and above the county and state indicator, disaster assistance has been awarded by the president. Allegany County\u2019s threshold for FEMA Public Assistance is $321,460 and Maryland\u2019s is $11,674,953.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have continued to work closely with Allegany and Garrett counties to capture the damages,\u201d\u00a0said Maryland Department of Emergency Management Secretary Russell Strickland.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cWe will continue to pursue all possible assistance for the impacted communities to support their recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

In June,\u00a0Governor Moore announced<\/a>\u00a0the first-ever use of the State Disaster Recovery Fund, providing $459,375 in recovery support for individuals impacted by the flooding. In July,\u00a0Governor Moore announced<\/a>\u00a0an additional $1 million in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funds for families in Garrett and Allegany counties.<\/p>\n

FEMA\u00a0Public Assistance<\/a>\u00a0is only available through a Major Disaster Declaration issued by the President. The program would provide funding for Garrett and Allegany counties for repair of critical and public infrastructure like roads, bridges, public water systems and sewage systems. The state also requested access to the\u00a0Hazard Mitigation Grant Program<\/a>, which provides funding to reduce risk of future impacts of similar events.<\/p>\n

\u201cI respectfully request that FEMA reconsiders their decision and provides the necessary aid that the residents of Westernport and neighboring towns need to fully recover from the devastating floods of May 2025,\u201d\u00a0said Westernport Mayor Judy Hamilton.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMaryland\u2019s appeal of FEMA\u2019s recent denial concerning the George\u2019s Creek Flood marks an important milestone for Allegany County,\u201d\u00a0said Senator Mike McKay.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cWorking hand-in-glove with Governor Moore\u2019s emergency management team, the process has been seamless and focused on delivering results for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur county government does not have the financial capacity to absorb the full cost of disaster recovery,\u201d\u00a0said Allegany County Commission President David J. Caporale.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cWithout federal aid, essential systems will remain at risk. This is not simply a matter of convenience; these are lifelines for public safety, commerce, and the daily functioning of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

###<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
For immediate\u00a0release:
\n<\/span><\/span>August 19, 2025<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n		Contact:\u00a0Carter Elliott
\nCarter.Elliott@maryland.gov<\/a><\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANNAPOLIS, MD \u2014\u00a0Governor Wes Moore today announced the\u00a0appeal\u00a0of President Trump\u2019s denial for a Major Disaster Declaration for flooding that occurred in Western Maryland this past May. Maryland\u2019s initial request was denied on July 22 in a letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) which stated assistance to Maryland was deemed unwarranted. Since the President\u2019s  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-releases"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mdem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mdem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mdem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mdem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mdem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mdem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28042,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mdem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28041\/revisions\/28042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mdem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mdem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mdem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}