FEMA cleared federal aid for 7 Ohio counties hit by August storms and landslides

Seven Ohio counties are now covered by a major disaster declaration for the severe weather that ran from August 10 to August 22, 2026: Clermont, Franklin, Hamilton, Licking, Morgan, Muskingum and Perry. The declaration is numbered DR-4945-OH and carries an October 2 declaration date. Its official title lists severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, flooding and landslides, which is the full catalog of what the state endured over those two weeks.

The seven are a fraction of what Ohio asked for. Governor Mike DeWine wrote to the President on September 2 seeking help for 23 counties, so sixteen of the places named in that request do not appear in the approved list. Who decided what, and which kind of help came through, is spelled out in the federal record.

The seven counties on FEMA’s record

FEMA’s open data record for disaster 4945 carries seven rows, one per designated area, and every row shares the same declaration date, the same incident window and the same title. The designated counties are Clermont, Franklin, Hamilton, Licking, Morgan, Muskingum and Perry. Two sit in the Cincinnati area (Hamilton and Clermont), one holds the state capital (Franklin), and the remaining four, Licking, Morgan, Muskingum and Perry, run across central and southeastern Ohio, much of it hilly ground where a saturated slope can give way.

A major disaster declaration is the President’s decision, made after a governor asks for it; FEMA is the agency that administers what follows. That division is why the record sits in FEMA’s system even though the request was addressed to the White House.

Individuals and Households Program aid

The record flags one program for all seven counties: the Individuals and Households Program. Public assistance, the stream that reimburses local governments for debris removal and repairs to roads and public buildings, is marked No on every row, and so is hazard mitigation. Nothing in that record rules out adding programs or counties later, but as of October 5 the approved scope is individual aid in seven counties.

FEMA’s own description of the Individuals and Households Program says it provides “financial and direct services to eligible individuals and households affected by a disaster, who have uninsured or under-insured necessary expenses and serious needs.” In practice that means rental help or hotel reimbursement, repair or replacement money for an owner-occupied primary home, and a second category for personal property, vehicles, moving and storage, and medical or funeral costs. FEMA states that the money is not a substitute for insurance and cannot cover every loss.

The 23-county request behind it

DeWine’s request, reported by Spectrum News, named Adams, Athens, Brown, Butler, Champaign, Clark, Clermont, Darke, Fairfield, Franklin, Greene, Hamilton, Highland, Licking, Logan, Madison, Morgan, Muskingum, Perry, Preble, Richland, Shelby and Washington counties. It cited tornadoes on August 11 (14 reported) and August 15 (3 reported), and asked for temporary housing, repairs, rental help, crisis counseling, disaster unemployment assistance, legal services and low-interest Small Business Administration loans.

The damage case rested on assessments carried out with FEMA and the SBA. According to the Ohio Township Association’s account of the request, at least 50 homes and businesses were destroyed, 806 had major damage and 475 had minor damage. Two people died, four were injured and about 59 water rescues were performed. DeWine wrote that “federal assistance will be critical in helping the Ohioans impacted by last month’s severe weather recover and move forward with their lives.”

Ohio’s congressional delegation pressed the same case. A letter from Representative Troy Balderson and Senators Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno to the President described a derecho, tornadoes and catastrophic flooding, counted roughly 300,000 power outages, and urged a quick approval of the governor’s request.

Landslides, and the counties that were not named

Landslides appear in FEMA’s declaration title but not in the delegation’s letter, which speaks of the derecho, tornadoes and flooding. Slope failures after heavy rain are most plausible in the hill country of Morgan, Muskingum and Perry counties, though FEMA’s record does not say which counties had them. The same record gives no dollar total for the aid, so the size of the federal commitment is not yet public in the sources reviewed, and the August 22 end of the incident period in FEMA’s record differs by a day from the August 23 end date used in the state’s request.

Athens and Washington counties, singled out in WTAP’s coverage of the request alongside Morgan, are not on the approved list. Counties left out of a declaration are not necessarily closed out for good, since a state can ask for additions when new damage figures arrive, but the October 2 record contains only the seven.

Ohio Emergency Management Agency Executive Director Sima Merick said in the state’s request that federal support “will aid homeowners, renters, and businesses affected by these storms.” Whether that reaches the sixteen counties left off the October 2 list depends on a record that, as of this reading, still shows seven names.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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