Office of Governor Brad Henry
State of Oklahoma
State Capitol – Oklahoma City OK 73105
405-521-2342

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 30, 2010

Oklahoma City – Gov. Brad Henry announced today that President Obama has approved the state’s request for an emergency declaration covering all 77 Oklahoma counties.

The declaration authorizes federal resources to assist state and local governments as they continue to respond to the severe winter storm. These resources include industrial size generators, bottled water, cots and blankets.

State authorities will continue to assess the need for additional federal disaster aid to cover further response and recovery costs.

Gov. Henry requested the first federal aid yesterday afternoon and the White House approved the request today less than 24 hours later.

“We appreciate the President’s speedy response to our request for federal aid and we will continue to stay in close touch with the White House and federal authorities as we recover from the winter storm,”said Gov. Henry.  “Many Oklahoma communities have been hard hit by this latest round of winter weather and we will be doing everything possible to help them in the days and weeks to come.””

Oklahoma remains under a statewide declaration of emergency issued by Gov. Henry earlier this week.