Virginia’s disaster declaration for February floods approved

Governor Glenn Youngkin made the announcement of the approved disaster declaration this past Friday, April 4, 2025.

A presidential disaster declaration allows for the release of additional federal funding for rebuilding and repairing of residential homes, private bridges, roads, and other infrastructure damaged by the disaster. A disaster declaration, which is named after a 4-digit numerical sequence with the suffix “DR” hyphenated with the affected state’s abbreviation “VA”, also allows rental assistance to those impacted by the disaster. Any person can apply for federal disaster assistance by following the link Disaster Assistance or by calling 1-800-621-3362.

“I am grateful to President Trump and the entire Administration for moving forward in their approval of the major disaster declaration,” Youngkin said in a release. “We will continue to seek every recovery resource necessary to support Virginians that have been adversely impacted by these storms.”

Individual Assistance (IA), which provides financial assistance and direct services to those impacted by a disaster, has not been determined whether Virginians can access these additional services. Gov. Youngkin expressed concern over the IA formulas which adversely impacts the Commonwealth’s eligibility, and has spoken with FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton to review for revision. The main factor that determines whether disaster survivor communities can avail of IA or not, is greatly dependent on the average gross income ratio, or how much the average individual/family makes compared to the population density of a certain municipality. This greatly affects wealthier cities. Although wealthier cities may find it difficult to access IA, it is not impossible.

Severe flooding that occurred in the middle of February resulted in washed-out roads, flooded homes, power outages, contaminated water sources, and dozens of water rescues in multiple Southwest Virginia counties. The official Operations Order (OPORD) designating the disaster declaration has not been published as of today. We will post it here once it has been published for reference in applying for disaster assistance.