Assemblyman John DiMaio saw first-hand the devastation incurred from July’s severe storm that affected businesses and families in Warren County.

“What we saw was nature at its worst,” said DiMaio (R-Warren). “It was clear right away that there was only so much that we could do to help on the local and state level.”

This past Friday, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for New Jersey to help cover costs of recovery efforts in Warren County devastated by an intense storm that drenched parts of the county beyond imagination.

The declaration makes state and local governments eligible for federal assistance coordinated through Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

FEMA has two programs to assist in declarations of emergency: public assistance (PA) for infrastructure damage and individual assistance (IA) for individual homeowner losses. Criteria for both is set by the federal government, which includes financial thresholds that must be met.

The storms were severe enough for Warren County to exceed and meet the PA threshold of $16M uncovered public losses. However, because Warren County was the only county largely affected by the storms, the County has also been responsible for meeting individual thresholds which are more difficult to meet.

The local, County, and State efforts to collect storm damage information contributed greatly to being able to meet PA thresholds.

“It is critical that residents continue to submit individual information to their local Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and the State’s DamageNJ website found on warrencountynj.gov,” said DiMaio.

“The County Commissioners, State, and Congressman Tom Kean’s office all worked hard on this,” added DiMaio.

All the offices continue to pursue programs and assistance options to offer relief to homeowners for infrastructure losses and storm mitigation.

“It was a team effort to get this declaration,” said DiMaio. “But we’ve still got a lot more work to do to take care of everybody affected.”

For further information please contact your local OEM (Office of Emergency Management), Warren County OEM, your representatives, or DiMaio’s District office, asmdimaio@njleg.org or call 908-684-9550.