Biden grants disaster request for South Dakota due to spring flooding

July 7, 2023

PIERRE, S.D.–South Dakota has received a Presidential Disaster Declaration that allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help South Dakota local governments in the counties of Brown, Clark, Codington, Day, Faulk, Grant, Hand, Marshall, Potter, and Roberts, as well as the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation recover from damage due to spring flooding.

On June 2nd, Governor Kristi Noem signed an Executive Order which declared a disaster in the impacted counties. An estimated $2.3 million in qualifying costs were incurred during the flooding in those counties.

Federal resources will help with recovery from infrastructure damage sustained as a result of severe spring flooding.

Above normal seasonal snowfall and unusually cold late spring conditions resulted in a persistent and unusually deep snowpack into early April. In the second week of April temperatures became abnormally warm, surging to the 70s and 80s. This resulted in a period of very rapid snowmelt and both river and overland flooding.