HARRISBURG - Gov. Tom Corbett asked for federal disaster assistance Friday to help local governments in Lackawanna, Wayne and Schuylkill counties recover from powerful storm damage and flooding in late June.
Corbett will seek the same assistance for 11 counties in central and western Pennsylvania. The assistance could pay 75 percent of the cost of debris removal, emergency services and repairing or replacing damaged public facilities such as roads, buildings and utilities.
The request follows preliminary assessments showing that damages and response costs collectively in the 14 counties total more than $19.8 million. That amount exceeds the state damage threshold of $17.4 million needed for Pennsylvania to be eligible to apply for federal assistance, the governor's office said.
In Northeast Pennsylvania, preliminary damage estimates in the public property category are: Wayne County, $1.7 million; Lackawanna County, $439,000; and Schuylkill County, $58,000, according to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. Those estimates could go up, officials said.