Washington, DC - Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet announced that President Obama has issued a major disaster designation for the State of Colorado due to severe storms, tornadoes, flooding, landslides, and mudslides. The designation will give communities access to federal funding for recovery efforts. Bennet joined Congressmen Scott Tipton, Ken Buck, and Doug Lamborn in a letter led by Senator Cory Gardner to President Obama last week asking for the designation.

"Colorado has been no stranger to natural disasters, and once again regions across Colorado have been hit with devastating storms that have caused landslides, flooding, and significant destruction," Bennet said. "We worked with members of the delegation to secure this designation to help communities repair and rebuild, and we will continue fighting for resources for recovery and mitigation work to help prevent future disasters."

The designation is for events that occurred between May 4 and June 16, 2015. The funding comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Public Assistance (PA) Program and the Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) Grant Program. The PA program provides assistance for emergency work and the repair and replacement of disaster-damaged facilities. This funding is available for Baca, Elbert, El Paso, Fremont, Logan, Morgan, Pueblo, Saguache, Sedgwick, Washington, and Yuma Counties. The HMA Grant Program provides assistance for mitigation efforts and is available to communities in the entire state.

Interested applicants can click here for information on applying for the PA program and here for information on the HMA Grant Program.

Click here for full text of the letter.

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