Sections of Montana that had been damaged by flooding were officially declared to be disaster areas on June 10 by President Barack Obama.

"A major disaster was declared at the request of the governor for what we call our public assistance program," said External Affairs Officer with FEMA, Ricardo Zuniga. "The public assistance program provides grants to state, local, and tribal governments to assist them with the response and recovery from disasters."

Depending on how Montana's Disaster management plan is written, other areas of Montana may see aid from FEMA as well.

"It provides assistance though debris removal, emergency protective measures, and actually the permanent restoration of infrastructure," said Ricardo. "In addition to those programs, hazard mitigation has been approved state wide, so not only the 12 counties and three tribes that were effected in this disaster, but actually all Montanans may see some benefit."

Zuniga says that public meetings will be held and that FEMA usually takes about two months to complete the process of analyzing what areas need help and then allocating the proper funds.

Ricardo Zuniga

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