by McKenna Horsley, Kentucky Lantern
July 31, 2025

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied some assistance for Kentucky counties affected by severe storms and tornadoes earlier this year, but the Beshear administration plans to appeal the decisions. 

The federal agency denied individual assistance for Christian and Todd counties and public assistance for Leslie County. FEMA also denied requests for the Hazard Mitigation Assistance Grant Program, which funds long-term solutions to reduce the impact of future disasters, for both April flooding and the May tornadoes.

FEMA’s individual assistance program helps people affected by disasters who have uninsured or underinsured expenses. Public assistance from FEMA grants local governments money to recover from natural disasters. 

Beshear announced the decisions in a Wednesday afternoon press release. 

“While we appreciate the Individual Assistance and Public Assistance we were granted for most of the affected areas, we are disappointed in the decision,” Beshear said. “We are actively comparing the damage assessments, and we plan to appeal.”

FEMA sent Beshear a letter earlier this week about its decision that said the damage assessments of Christian and Todd counties for individual assistance and Leslie County for public assistance “is not of the severity and magnitude” to warrant those designations. 

Some Kentucky communities were approved for about $56 million in federal funding to repair damage from the May tornadoes and April floods last week. 

President Donald Trump previously approved direct federal aid for individuals in six counties hit by May tornadoes, storms and straight-line winds. Nineteen people died as a result of those storms.

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.

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Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

The content reports on FEMA’s denial of certain disaster assistance requests for Kentucky counties, focusing on the facts of the decision, responses from Governor Beshear, and the federal aid that was approved for other areas. It presents information about federal disaster programs and related political figures in a neutral tone without endorsing a particular political viewpoint. The article balances state and federal perspectives, avoids loaded language, and refrains from framing the issue in a partisan manner, reflecting straightforward news coverage rather than ideological bias.