Florida rep calls on Biden to approve disaster declaration after historic flooding

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) called on President Biden to approve a federal disaster declaration that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is expected to request, following record rainfall in the state that caused disastrous flooding.

“This morning, I asked that [President Biden] approve Governor DeSantis’s request for a Major Disaster Declaration to provide relief to those impacted by the once-in-a-lifetime floods in Broward County,” said Moskowitz, who represents Broward County, the site of most of the flooding, on Twitter on Monday.

The flooding in Broward County, which affected cities including Fort Lauderdale, left about 1,000 homes severely damaged, according to the state. More than 2 feet of rain fell in parts of the county earlier this month.

The flooding also forced the city’s airport to close for two days and canceled schools for Broward County, which includes over 260,000 students.

DeSantis is slated to request federal assistance, according to Moskowitz’s letter to the White House. A federal disaster declaration would allow federal funding to be made available for recovery efforts, including grants and low-cost loans to people who had damaged property.

Moskowitz’s letter comes the same day Biden approved a federal disaster declaration for parts of Oklahoma after a string of tornadoes ran through the state last week, killing at least three people. 

The Biden administration also approved a disaster request following the tornadoes in Mississippi last month that killed at least 32 people.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management said in a statement on Monday that DeSantis was planning to submit a request for a disaster declaration to the White House, but it was not clear when the request would be submitted.

This story was updated at 3:39 pm ET.