Washington seeks $21 million in FEMA aid to rebuild after record flooding

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson is requesting $21.3 million from the federal government for disaster relief after December’s record river flooding. The money would help people in counties and tribal nations repair and rebuild.

People across Washington are cleaning up their homes and businesses after last month’s catastrophic storms.

Back-to-back atmospheric rivers caused record river flooding, winds that knocked down trees, and landslides that washed away roads.

RELATED: How much water flooded parts of Western Washington? At least 3 Lake Washingtons' worth

Nearly 4,000 homes in Washington were damaged, and now Washington state is requesting grants from FEMA to help people recover.

That'll include "businesses who can't recover," and those with "homes that can't be reoccupied," Julie de Losada, chief of emergency management in Skagit County told KUOW.

Skagit County was one of the hardest hit areas in the state and de Losada said recovery will likely take years.

There is still some standing water and people looking for new homes.

"There's approximately 55 people who are still in hotels that nonprofits are supporting,” de Losada said.

RELATED: As Washington state's flood recovery unfolds, what resources can people expect?

County officials in Washington surveyed residents this month to assess the extent and cost of the damage. During the storms, multiple rivers set new flood levels after bouts of heavy rain, including the Snohomish River.

That forced renters, homeowners, and businesses to flee from the rising floodwater.

“We do know that there's millions of dollars of private property damage within the county,” said Lucia Schmit, director of Snohomish County’s Department of Emergency Management, “and millions of dollars of public property and public impacts as well.”

Farmland and pastures were flooded the most in Snohomish County, Schmit said. Barns and fences were destroyed or washed away.

“Over 36,000 acres of land in Snohomish County were underwater during the flooding event,” she said, “which is about 56 square miles of the county were underwater.”

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In King County, a third of all the farmland was inundated by water for weeks.

The requested FEMA aid would be for residents to rebuild — everything from cleaning up storm damage, restoring farmland, or fully replacing parts of their home.

On Wednesday, Ferguson announced the state will ask for money to repair public property in February.

Ferguson, who has sparred politically with the President Donald Trump before, is asking him for a major disaster declaration.

That would allow people to apply for federal loans.

The federal government did declare an emergency in early December, which sent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard to assist in flooded areas.

Emergency management officials said federal assistance will certainly make a difference for residents who were flooded. But clean-up and rebuilding takes time, especially in flood-prone areas close to the rivers. Climate change is making abnormal record-breaking heavy rain more likely.

" It can take decades for a community to recover,” Julie de Losada from Skagit County said. “I can say from the 2021 floods, we are still recovering from those."