WHEELING — Nearly 40 days after devastating flash flooding caused massive damage and claimed the lives of nine people, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday afternoon that a disaster declaration was issued for Ohio and Marion counties.

“It is my Great Honor to grant $11.7 Million Dollars to the beautiful State of West Virginia for severe tornadoes and flooding that impacted their incredible people in June,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Tuesday evening. “I just finished speaking with their wonderful Governor, Patrick Morrisey, and look forward to seeing the State make a full recovery. I love West Virginia!”

“President Trump and his administration has shown once again that they will step up and support West Virginia,” Morrisey said in a Tuesday evening statement. “I want to thank everyone involved in securing Individual Assistance for Ohio and Marion counties and providing us another tool to help these communities make a full recovery.”

While no tornadoes were reported the weekend of June 14 through June 15, between 2.5 and 4 inches of rain fell in Ohio County in the Triadelphia and Valley Grove areas in 30 minutes the night of June 14 according to the National Weather Service, sweeping away vehicles, damaging buildings, and killing nine people.

Additional storms hit Marion County throughout June 15, with approximately three inches of rain dropping throughout the day, causing significant damage to homes, businesses, and roads.

The federal disaster declaration will start the flow of recovery dollars to West Virginia through the Federal Emergency Management Agency through individual assistance for homeowners and business, and public assistance program to reimburse state and local first responders and governments as they continue to work on cleanup and recovery.

Residents have been waiting on further federal assistance since June 20, when Gov. Morrisey submitted West Virginia’s application for a federal disaster declaration.

Morrisey and the state’s congressional delegation — U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va.; U.S. Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va.; and U.S. Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va. — have been advocated for the need for a federal disaster declaration during that time.

“The West Virginia Congressional Delegation is grateful to the Trump administration for the major disaster declaration and emergency declaration giving the approval of our state’s request for federal disaster aid,” the delegation said in a joint statement Tuesday. “The flooding that occurred saw devastating loss of life and property, and we are glad that much-needed help is on the way to help these communities recover and rebuild. We commend the bravery of the first responders who sprang into action and the local leaders, churches, and charities who have been on the ground helping victims begin to rebuild their lives.”

Local and state officials expressed relief Tuesday night after it was announced that a federal disaster declaration had been issued in the wake of the deadly June floods that devastated parts of Ohio County.

Lou Vargo, director of Wheeling-Ohio County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, said the federal disaster declaration will allow representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to establish a location in the area to directly assist affected people with applying for much needed financial relief.

“People from FEMA and the West Virginia Emergency Management Division will come in and will be setting up a disaster relief center,” Vargo said. “Right now the tentative plans will be at the Blaskovich Community Center — the Triadelphia Community Center.”

Vargo said details will be announced to the public as soon as an official location and office hours are established.

“The individual assistance will be for the citizens who lost their house or even had just some property damage — they can come in and apply for assistance,” Vargo noted. “People from the Small Business Administration will come in, too. Businesses that experienced damage and equipment loss can apply for SBA low-interest loans.”

There are different types of FEMA assistance, officials noted. The individual assistance directly helps private property owners, and the public assistance unlocks financial support for state agencies and local governments.

“That is where any of the governments like the Wheeling Fire Departments — all of their overtime, the use of equipment and those things — they can apply for assistance,” Vargo explained. “More importantly, the town of Triadelphia, the town of Valley Grove, our public service district, our volunteer fire departments — like Valley Grove and Triadelphia, which sustained damage to their fire house and equipment — they can also apply for public assistance to replace any type of equipment that was lost.”

Vargo noted that officials estimate that the Ohio County Public Service District sustained more than $1.5 million in damage to infrastructure during last month’s floods.

“The PSD had a lot of damage to the sewer systems — grinder pumps, lift stations — all of that equipment has to be replaced, and it’s very expensive,” he said, noting that the federal disaster declaration is vital for this recovery effort on all fronts. “That’s good news for everybody.”

According to Vargo, the federal and state agencies will likely expedite the process of setting up a disaster relief location now that a declaration from the White House has been issued.

“It’s what we’ve been waiting for, and now we can hopefully get this moving,” Vargo said. “I think now that it’s been declared, FEMA and the West Virginia Emergency Management Division will mobilize as quickly as possible. Hopefully in a few days we can get that center open and the citizens can come in and start their application.”

Elected officials representing Ohio County also weighed in on Tuesday’s announcement of the long-awaited disaster declaration.

While Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, on Tuesday night said he had not yet seen the official declaration, he was hopeful that the assistance will be all-encompassing and provide needed financial aid to individuals and to the local public agencies.

Fluharty noted that it took over a month to receive a federal disaster declaration for West Virginia’s deadly flooding in June while other states that have suffered disasters since then — like Texas — have already been issued disaster declarations and are already receiving help.

“Regardless, it’s good news that we finally have received the support that other states received in days,” Fluharty said. “Obviously this is something that is exciting and necessary from our area to help rebuild.”

The delay in action for West Virginia demonstrates a need to reform the way the state responds to these types of disasters, Fluharty noted.

“For state legislative purposes, I think the fact that it took 35 days or so reveals a glaring problem within our state flood relief infrastructure that we were unable to render any real aid and had to wait on the federal government,” he said. “That’s why I continue to support funding our Flood Resiliency Fund — as our former governor and current Sen. Jim Justice did — which currently sits at zero dollars.”

State Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman, R-Ohio, said she sent a letter to a federal delegation about a week ago, asking Justice, Capito and Moore if there is anything else that could be done to expedite the process, as the one-month anniversary of the June 14 disaster had come with no word on a federal assistance.

“I’m just so pleased and thankful for Gov. Morrisey and to President Donald Trump for coming through with the assistance,” Wakim Chapman said. “I think it will go really far to help the people who lost everything.”

State Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, also welcomed the word about the long-awaited federal disaster declaration.

“Obviously that is wonderful news for people who have been impacted — who have lost their homes or lost their businesses, or suffered great damage to either one of those,” Weld said Tuesday night. “It’s great to see because it will finally allow these people to start to move forward with repairing their homes, repairing their businesses and beginning to get their lives back in order and being able to move on from what happened now over a month ago.”