Bowling Green stands to receive $970,000 to help offset costs from December’s tornadoes.

Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday that an additional $1 million from the West Kentucky State Aid Funding for Emergencies fund will be dispersed to Taylor County, Hopkins Fiscal Court and the city of Bowling Green. The city will get the lion’s share, with Taylor County receiving $10,400 and Hopkins County receiving $58,500.

The money will cover expenses incurred after the December tornadoes that cannot be reimbursed through Federal Emergency Management Agency aid.

“Nearly six months have passed since tornadoes struck Western Kentucky,” Beshear said in a news release. “And while our people are resilient and our communities are rebuilding, there is more work to be done.”

Jeff Meisel, Bowling Green’s city manager, said the funds will be used to help with tree replacement efforts, personnel costs and wages, private property cleanup and utility repairs for homes damaged after the tornadoes.

Meisel said the city lost a lot of tree cover, or “urban canopy,” in older neighborhoods, thus the great need for replacement efforts.

A lot of debris and tree residue, like stumps and branches, still remains on private properties.

Meisel said the city will need to bring in “big equipment” to facilitate further cleanup efforts.

The city will also be looking into structures that sustained losses of utility efficiency because of storm damage.

Meisel said the city’s disaster relief is set up in a 90/10 split with 90% of expenses expected to be reimbursed by FEMA and 10% not covered. The state of Kentucky agreed to cover 4.8% of the costs, and the city is able to use SAFE funds to cover the remaining 5.2%.

Meisel said 100% of personnel expenses incurred in the first 30 days after the disaster were fully covered by FEMA. Debris pickup costs were 100% covered from late December to late January.

Meisel said that with this round of funding, the city has received “well over $1 million” in total SAFE funds to help with relief.

The city has completed cleanup at major roadways, and according to Meisel, is now turning its sights to private properties to help in any way possible.

“The city has wrapped (cleanup) up from the rights of ways, hopefully we can provide some assistance in removing whatever’s left that’s a problem on private property or that didn’t have insurance coverage,” Meisel said.

“I think we’ll be in pretty good shape when it’s all said and done,” Meisel said. “It just takes some time to get FEMA money.”