BOISE — President Donald Trump has approved Idaho’s major disaster declaration, advancing a recovery effort that will assist six north Idaho counties impacted by high winds and intense rainfall from a storm earlier this year.

“As North Idaho continues recovering from the devastating storm, this Presidential Disaster Declaration marks an important next step,” Gov. Brad Little said in a release from the Idaho Office of Emergency Management. “It helps provide the resources our communities need to restore public infrastructure, support businesses, and maintain our high quality of life.”

The presidential disaster declaration covers Benewah, Bonner, Clearwater, Kootenai, Latah and Nez Perce counties for a storm event occurring March 11-15. The storm brought gusts between 58-99 mph across the north Idaho region as well as severe flooding landslide and debris flows that resulted in 11,000 customers experiencing power loss as well as extensive road and facility damage.

Avista Utilities, an energy company serving east Washington and north Idaho, reported 60,988 customers being without power at the peak of the storm. The high outage numbers stemmed from fallen trees contacting electric lines, damaging both electric transmission and distribution systems, a prior release from Avista said.

According to a joint preliminary damage assessment by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Idaho Office of Emergency Management (IOEM) and local representatives, the total damages from the storm event were confirmed in April to have surpassed $5.9 million, an IOEM release said.

According to a Truth Social post from Trump, Idaho has been approved for $4.5 million in funds for its disaster declaration.

With the declaration having received the president’s approval, government departments and some nonprofits in the aforementioned counties will be able to apply to the Public Assistance (PA) Program for help with recovery costs. Applicants will be required to submit a Request for Public Assistance (RPA) — the first step in identifying eligible applications for the PA Program — within the application deadline of July 30.

“The severe weather Northern Idaho faced damaged critical public infrastructure,” IOEM Bureau Chief Ben Roeber said in the release. “This Presidential Declaration will help eligible communities recover from these damages. We will continue to work alongside our local partners and FEMA throughout this process.”

Southwest Idaho storm

IOEM issued a separate release last week for a southwest Idaho storm from June 26-27 that prompted Canyon County to declare a local disaster emergency in the wake of flooding in the area, as was previously reported by the Idaho Press.

Homeowners, renters and businesses in Ada and Canyon counties are being encouraged to report any damages from the storm to the report damages page on the IOEM website, which will allow the state to assemble reports to determine if disaster assistance programs can be made available.

If approved for any disaster assistance program, residents and businesses who incurred damage during the weather event will be asked to submit an application for the specific program, the release said.