Gov. Rhoden signs disaster declaration for wind storm

South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden has announced he has signed a disaster declaration Wednesday asking FEMA for assistance for damages caused during a December windstorm. On that day, December 17^th South Dakota experienced winds exceeding 100 mile per hour causing severe damage to infrastructure, affecting Pennington, Custer and Fall River counties the most. Cleanup is already underway, but the Rhoden Administration has 30 days from the incident to send a request into FEMA. Damages must be at least $1,720,133.98 to qualify for FEMA assistance. If approved FEMA public enttieis that qualify would receive 75 percent of the cost of repairs from FEMA, 10 percent from the state and 15 percent from the county.