Federal aid approved for winter road damage in eastern WA counties

The Trump Administration has approved federal aid to 13 counties in Washington including Benton, Franklin and Walla Walla, stemming from storm damage in the first three weeks of February.

Much of the damage, that totaled more than $27 million dollars across the state, was to roads. Just in Franklin County, the administrator Keith Johnson says repairs have impacted nearly half the county's $11 million transportation budget. Johnson adds this approval will help make up for those costs and not impact other unrelated planned road repairs.

"Most importantly is it allows us to repair and in some cases replace flood control head gates and places were it has washed out underneath the roads and completely destroyed the road bed," says Johnson.

He says they are still working on the paperwork and do not have a total cost of what they will ask for from FEMA.

The declaration approved on Friday made the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s public assistance program available in Adams, Benton, Columbia, Franklin, Grant, Lewis, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Skamania, Spokane, Wahkiakum, Walla Walla and Whatcom counties.