Quitman County Approved for FEMA Public Assistance After January Winter Storm

Quitman County's local governments and qualifying nonprofits gained access to federal disaster funds this week after the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency expanded the Public Assistance designation tied to January's winter storm, bringing the statewide total of approved counties to 38.

MEMA's March 18 news release added Quitman to an 18-county group now fully eligible for Public Assistance grants under federal disaster declaration DR-4899-MS, which covers damage from the January 23-27 storm. The grants are intended to fund debris removal and permanent repairs to public facilities. Quitman joins Adams, Attala, Benton, Claiborne, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lee, Marshall, Panola, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Union, and Yalobusha in the newly expanded group.

Those 18 counties had previously been approved only for emergency protective measures and direct federal assistance. The expansion now qualifies them for all categories of Public Assistance, matching the broader coverage already held by counties including Alcorn, Bolivar, Grenada, Holmes, Leflore, Washington, Yazoo, and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, among others.

Separate from the 18-county expansion, MEMA's March 18 action also added Choctaw, Itawamba, Oktibbeha, and Wilkinson counties to the designation, according to reporting from WCBI. Prior to that announcement, 34 counties had been approved for all categories of Public Assistance; the four-county addition brought the confirmed total to 38.

County offices and nonprofit organizations in Quitman County should note that eligibility under Public Assistance does not extend to individual residents. A separate request for Individual Assistance, which would open federal aid directly to households, remained under FEMA review as of March 19.