Donald Trump Declares California a ‘Major Disaster’

President Donald Trump approved a declaration of a “major disaster” in California over the weekend, freeing up federal funds for flood relief in several rural counties in response to requests from Governor Jerry Brown and local residents.

In a press release on Sunday, the White House stated:

Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump declared a major disaster exists in the State of California and ordered Federal assistance to supplement State, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe winter storms, flooding, and mudslides during the period of February 1 to February 23, 2017.

…

Federal funding is available to State, tribal, and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe winter storms, flooding, and mudslides in the counties of Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Marin, Mariposa, Merced, Modoc, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Plumas, Sacramento, San Benito, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo, and Yuba.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

The Los Angeles Times notes that President Trump’s declaration extends federal relief first offered in January.

Despite California Democrats’ determination to “resist” President Trump’s broader agenda, the president has granted the state’s requests for emergency relief.

However, the administration has also warned “sanctuary cities” in California that they will lose millions of dollars in federal grant money for law enforcement if they continue to refuse to cooperate with or honor federal immigration law.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.