This is historical material, "frozen in time." The web site is no longer updated and links to external web sites and some internal pages will not work.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release January 5, 2001

                PRESIDENT CLINTON DECLARES A MAJOR DISASTER
                      EXISTS IN THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA

     President  Clinton today declared a major disaster exists in the State

of Oklahoma and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area struck by a severe winter ice storm beginning on December 25, 2000, and continuing.

The President's action makes Federal funding available to individuals and local governments in a 39 county area. The counties include Adair, Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Cherokee, Choctaw, Cleveland, Coal, Cotton, Creek, Garvin, Grady, Haskell, Hughes, Jefferson, Johnston, Latimer, LeFlore, Lincoln, Love, Marshall, McClain, McCurtain, McIntosh, Murray, Muskogee, Okfuskee, Oklahoma, Okmulgee, Pittsburg, Pontotoc, Pottawatomie, Pushmataha, Seminole, Sequoyah, Stephens, Tulsa, Wagoner and Washington.

Assistance can include disaster housing, grants, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Assistance is also available for debris removal (Category A) and emergency protective measures (Category B), including direct Federal assistance, at 75 percent Federal funding.

James L. Witt, Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), named C. Michel Butler as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.

The Agency said that damage surveys are continuing in other areas, and additional assistance and counties may be added after the assessments are completed.

30-30-30