As they say, the waiting is the hardest part.

Thirteen Kentucky Counties have received a federal disaster declaration in response to the flooding that struck communities across the state. As of Tuesday morning however, the only southcentral Kentucky county included in the declaration is Butler County.

Warren County Emergency Management head Ronnie Pearson told the Daily News that Warren County is one of 70 counties in the state that declared local states of emergency after a multi-day weather event brought heavy rainfall totals to the commonwealth earlier this month. To access federal aid, a disaster declaration must be made by the president.

“That’s what the president has initially made that declaration for,” Pearson said.

Disaster Survivor Assistance teams from FEMA will work in Anderson, Butler, Carroll, Christian, Clark, Franklin, Hardin, Hopkins, Jessamine, McCracken, Mercer, Owen and Woodford counties to help residents access resources from the federal government.

These counties were included in an April 11 letter sent from Gov. Andy Beshear’s office to the White House requesting a declaration.

On Tuesday, Beshear’s office announced that two more requests had been sent in, one for individual assistance from FEMA for 16 counties and another for public assistance for 64 counties. Both requests include Warren County.

Pearson said subsequent letters will be sent for other counties. Although he is not sure when Warren County will be included, he said “we feel confident” it will be.

“It’s been a unique situation this time with the presidential declaration,” Pearson said. “We’ve seen it take a short period of time, and we’ve seen it take an extended period of time.

“ … We want to feel confident that that’s going to happen, but we just don’t know when,” he said.

Beshear’s office announced Monday afternoon that FEMA disaster recovery centers would be opening in the 13 counties that were listed in the declaration. Any family living in those counties can access a DRC for assistance and each county is expected to have its own DRC by April 30.

FEMA personnel have conducted assessments of damage in Warren County already. Pearson said on local government’s side, access to aid from FEMA is a way for the city and county to cover costs associated with repairs. This includes repairs to sinkholes and road surfaces as well as labor costs.

“Those are going to be expensive repairs, so that either has to be done with local budgets and taxpayer dollars or assistance with FEMA to reduce the cost to the taxpayers,” Pearson said. “That’s the reason that we proactively try to bring FEMA to assist not only the citizens, but both local governments, to reduce the cost of those those damages.”

On the citizen side, Pearson said FEMA will conduct assessments of damage to households and will examine insurance policies to find out what is and isn’t covered.

Floodplain maps are determined by FEMA. Those who live within floodplains have flood insurance, but many residents of Bowling Green and Warren County do not.

“They work with those individual families one on one to see what they can provide assistance to those families for,” Pearson said, adding that the Small Business Administration often arrives as well to provide aid to local businesses.

Until Warren County receives a declaration though, none of this can happen.

“At this point, it’s just hurry up and wait,” Pearson said.