Task force discusses disaster relief funding needs
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Task force discusses disaster relief funding needs June 27, 2025
Note: Sen. Robin L. Webb, R-Grayson, co-chairs the newly formed Disaster Prevention and Resiliency Task Force, which held its inaugural meeting on Friday. A high-res version is available here.
FRANKFORT — Kentucky is no stranger to natural disasters. Within in the first six months of 2025, the commonwealth has endured several significant flooding events and deadly tornadoes.
Kentucky lawmakers gathered Friday morning to discuss disaster relief funding needs during the inaugural meeting of the Disaster Prevention and Resiliency Task Force.
Sen. Robin L. Webb, R-Grayson, co-chairs the new task force with Rep. Chris Freeland, R-Benton. Webb said the goal of the task force is to focus on how to recover and mitigate risk, and that will require the Kentucky General Assembly’s budgetary support.
“We can’t prevent (natural disasters), but we can be ready and then mitigate them, and that includes housing, quality of life, infrastructure impacts and rebuilding and prioritization of that and housing,” Webb said. “In East Kentucky, West Kentucky we’ve seen devastation for communities, and people want to live where they live and they should be able to do that.”
Eric Gibson, the director of Kentucky’s Division of Emergency Management, said Kentucky is experiencing disasters of “increasing frequency and intensity.”
If you compare Kentucky’s rate of federally declared natural disasters to Florida in the last 20 years, Kentucky has had 33, which is two more than Florida, Gibson said. The frequency of natural disasters may not be entirely new, but the cost is.
“There has been a high level of disasters across the commonwealth for this entire period of time. The intensity of the expense is what’s changing,” Gibson said.
A major issue facing some communities impacted by the more recent storms is public assistance funding, Gibson added.
“I do think that the public assistance being pending is a very important issue to your local officials, as those counties are going to be paying those expenses out of those county dollars without public assistance or state funds or a state disaster relief fund,” Gibson said.
Reflecting on the last six months, Sen. Scott Madon, R-Pineville, mentioned how the general assembly appropriated funds during the 2025 legislative session for the February storms, but adjourned for the year before the April flooding and May tornado events.
“We keep hearing about the having to possibly come back for a special session,” Madon said. “Where are we on the money that we allocated? Are we blowing through that pretty quick?”
Gibson said the funds allocated for the February storms has been used to help those communities. Possible federal public assistance for the more recent flooding and tornados is still pending as the state and Kentucky’s congressional delegation works to secure a declaration from the president, he added.
“It’s hard to come before you and say we need ‘x’ amount of dollars, because we don’t even have all the projects estimated,” Gibson said. “But I can tell you that it’s hundreds of millions of dollars that is going to be needed in our state to recover across that 83-county area.”
Federal funding, if approved, will cover 75% of the cost, Gibson added.
Another project the state is working to secure funding for is an update to the state’s IFLOWS system, which is a network of water level gauges, Gibson said. The estimated cost to replace the existing 270 monitors across the state is around $1 million.
Webb said she “thinks it’s important for the committee to note the reliability and accuracy” of the system. Gibson said IFLOWS is crucial in monitoring rising water levels and alerting officials who then can communicate risk to the public.
Rep. Mark Hart, R-Falmouth, said the IFLOWS system helped his district position local resources in the right places as river levels rose during April’s flooding event.
“They’re so valuable to preparation and pre-planning,” Hart said. “I cannot emphasize them enough… Moving forward, we need to make sure these systems are not only maintained but enhanced to where we get more gauges out there.”
News Releases are provided by the LRC Public Information Office. All photos are attributed to LRC Staff.
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/publicservices/pio/release.html#DiasterTF060725
