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Federal Relief for Tornadoes, Severe Weather Comes to Carroll, Benton Counties

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NASHVILLE (March 25) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Wednesday Benton, Carroll and Smith counties will receive federal assistance under Tennessee’s current Major Disaster Declarations for the tornadoes and severe weather on March 3.
“These counties will now receive federal reimbursement assistance for their costs related to damaged infrastructure and recovery measures,” Governor Lee said. “We continue to work closely with our federal partners to help our counties and communities receive rebuilding and recovery help.”
The updated Major Disaster Declaration also makes Tennessee’s declared counties—Benton, Carroll, Davidson, Putnam, Smith and Wilson—eligible for federal reimbursement in all available categories of the federal PA program.
This means costs associated with damage to county roads and bridges, water control facilities, buildings and equipment, utilities, and parks also are eligible for federal reimbursement under the Major Disaster Declaration.
Additional information on the federal Public Assistance program is available at tn.gov/tema/recover/public-assistance.html.
The six declared counties reported more than $68 million in estimated impacts to county infrastructure and for costs associated with counties’ response and recovery measures.

This estimated total impact to local governments includes $32 million for Davidson County, $17 million for Wilson, $5 million for Putnam, $400,000 in Smith, and more than $200,000 each in Benton and Carroll. Agencies of the State of Tennessee estimated more than $11 million in estimated cost impact.
The tornadoes and severe storms on March 3 caused 25 weather-related fatalities, damaged or destroyed more than 4,000 structures, including five public schools, left 101,521 residents without power and closed State Government offices.
Tennessee remains in a State of Emergency and the State Emergency Operations Center in Nashville, Tenn. continues to operate in support of the ongoing disaster response.
Go to tn.gov/tema/get-involved/flooding-and-severe-weather-response.html for TEMA tornado and severe weather recovery information on debris removal, donations, volunteering, and other resources.
About the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency: TEMA’s mission is to coordinate preparedness, response and recovery from man-made, natural and technological hazards in a professional and efficient manner in concert with our stakeholders. Follow TEMA on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and, at www.tn.gov/tema.
About ReadyTN: ReadyTN is a mobile device application from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) providing emergency preparedness, response, and recovery information to Tennesseans. Ready TN is available for mobile devices running Apple and Android operating systems. For more information on ReadyTN’s features and on downloading, visit www.tn.gov/tema/ready-tn.html.

Carroll County, Benton County, Storm, Tornado, March 3