Biden order allows FEMA aid for Nevada winter storm damage

The federal government has made Nevada state, tribal and local entities eligible for financial assistance for costs of recovering from severe winter storms that affected rural parts of the state in March.

President Joe Biden issued a disaster declaration Friday authorizing Federal Emergency Management Agency cost-sharing funds for damage from flooding, landslides and mudslides from March 8 to March 19 in Douglas, Eureka, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral and Storey counties.

Eric Holt, emergency services director in Lincoln County, called the declaration important in rural areas affected by a series of wet winter storms that swept off the Pacific Ocean, dumping extraordinary amounts of snow in the Sierra Nevada and rain on rangelands.

All but four of Nevada's 17 counties and Yomba Shoshone tribal lands were included in an emergency declaration initially enacted March 9 by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo. Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, was not among them.

U.S. 95, a key highway between Las Vegas and Reno, was closed...