Signs point those in need of aid following the flooding that inundated homes and left Warren County under more than 10 inches of water in April to the FEMA Disaster Recovery Center set up in the Michael O. Buchanan Park gym building on Monday, May 19, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS

Federal assistance from the federal government has finally been made available for Bowling Green and Warren County, which will reimburse local government for various expenses incurred during the flooding event that struck the county and the state in April.

“(We will be) able to bring our community back up to standards before the disaster make those changes and repairs that need to be done to hopefully mitigate those for the future,” County Emergency Management head Ronnie Pearson told the Daily News.

Kentucky was inundated with flooding the first week of April, which raised water levels in rivers, flooded roads and uprooted lives across the state. Locally, over 10 inches of rain fell. Over half of Kentucky’s 120 counties declared local states of emergency, including Warren County and the City of Bowling Green.

Municipalities can only access federal aid from FEMA after a formal disaster declaration is approved by the president. On May 16, FEMA arrived in Warren County providing aid to residents whose homes and businesses were affected.

The deadline to apply for individual assistance is this Friday, July 25.

Pearson said now that municipal aid has been approved, FEMA will come into town and hold a “kickoff meeting” with local government officials, explaining the process for accessing aid.

To be eligible for reimbursements, any repair projects that require an engineering study have to be engineered by FEMA. Pearson used the example of having a mile-long road that saw three sinkholes open up due to flooding.

“Each one of those sinkholes is a project, and costs have to be divided among each one of those sinkholes,” he said. “When we’ve got right away ditches that are washed out, when we’ve got sinkholes to repair, roadways that are washed out, each one of those are projects.”

After engineering and reviews are done, the cost of repairs will be submitted back to FEMA, who will reimburse local government for a majority of costs.

City Manager Jeff Meisel told the Daily News before the declaration was made that as far as expenses are concerned, overtime is the biggest.

“Occasionally we have to rent equipment, big equipment of some kind, but labor is the biggest (expense),” he said previously. “Those guys, they’re out all night, (we) have to pay them.”

The city so far has spent over $750,000 combined on repairs and overtime. In May, commissioners approved a $900,000 change order to its sinkhole mitigation contract with Scott & Ritter.

Pearson said a timeline for reimbursements is not yet known. He said in the past, county EM has been able to close out a disaster in as little as six to 12 months. Other times, like flooding in 2010, it has taken years.

“We had a considerable amount of damage in multiple places throughout the county,” Pearson said about the 2010 flooding. “I think it took us about 24 to 30 months to get everything closed up and reimbursed.”

Additionally, he said all disasters are unique.

“There’s not any catch up time,” Pearson said. “We just seem to roll from one disaster to the next, and every one is unique.”