Congressman Michael Guest pushes for federal assistance for March storms

This week, Congressman Michael Guest spoke with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Washington, D.C. about disaster relief for the March 14-15 storms.

It’s now been over a month since MEMA sent its federal declaration to President Donald Trump, and while Guest did not want to rush the process, he asked to see what can be done to get this much-needed assistance.

MEMA Executive Director Stephen McCraney has remained confident that the state will receive the aid since sending its request.

McCraney said that the damage meets FEMA’s threshold for assistance, with Mississippi suffering more than $18 million in damages from the storms.

Congressman Michael Guest brought this to the Department of Homeland Security’s attention in Washington with hopes that they can speed up the process.

“Shortly after the storms, I along with many of the other elected officials, we went and we visited those areas that were impacted. And I’ll tell you that some of the damage has been extreme. It is impacting my local jurisdictions with debris cleanup. It is impacting people as they seek to recover, so I would just ask that you personally see if anything could be done to expedite that request,” Guest said.

“I will certainly get back to you and follow up with that. I’m not sure if that decision is still with us or at the White House, but I will follow up with you. And I want to thank you for talking about the fact that you’re sitting there waiting for the federal government to respond. President Trump’s heart is with the American people and recognizes they don’t deserve that. If we had the ability to give resources to a state so they could respond in a more timely manner and do a better job than where the federal government has failed. It would be entirely appropriate,” Secretary Kristi Noem, Department of Homeland Security, said.

WLBT3 on your side will continue to follow this developing story.