Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek announced Friday she’s requested a major disaster declaration from the White House for several Oregon counties still recovering from damage caused by severe weather in December.

Back-to-back atmospheric rivers brought heavy rain, widespread flooding, landslides and high winds that triggered evacuation notices for thousands of Oregonians and shut down several highways.

“The scale of damage from December’s severe storms impacted multiple Oregon communities, with more than $15 million in losses and needed repairs,” Kotek said in a statement. “Rural communities are stretched beyond their limits, and help from FEMA is urgently needed.”

According to the Oregon Department of Emergency Management, already saturated soil exacerbated by the storms led to damaged homes, prolonged power outages and travel impacts as roads filled with fallen trees and downed powerlines.

At its peak, the agency said more than 300,000 people were without power on Dec. 17, 2025. The storms also led to a man’s death in Yamhill County as he attempted to drive through a flooded roadway.

Lilli Lessey, a program analyst with OEM, served as a coordinator in helping assess the preliminary damage caused by the December storms.

According to Lessey, the declaration, which seeks FEMA’s public assistance for nine Oregon counties, would help provide funding for debris removal, emergency protective measures like fire and police overtime as well as road and public infrastructure repairs.

“I think that, especially for our rural communities, these declarations can be really impactful since they do free up a lot of dollars,” Lessey said. “[It] does reduce that burden on their taxpayers pretty significantly.”

Under the request, counties would receive a 75% reimbursement from the federal government to help pay for repairs related to the storms, Lessey said. She added it’s unclear how long it could take for FEMA to review the request, but that it will likely take months.

OEM is looking to possibly add additional counties impacted by the storms if the request is approved, according to Lessey.

“Our local communities did a really excellent job of keeping everybody safe and making sure that folks that needed to evacuate were evacuated,” Lessey said. “ I just want to commend them on all that they were able to do.”

The request seeks aid for Clackamas, Hood River, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Polk, Tillamook, Union and Yamhill counties. It also asks for statewide access to FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which works to reduce or eliminate risks from future storms and other natural disasters.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/20/kotek-requests-federal-disaster-declaration-oregon-counties/