Disaster aid approved for flooding damage

BOISE – President Barack Obama has issued a major disaster declaration for Idaho and made federal funding available to counties with flooding damage.

Earlier this month, Gov. Butch Otter requested more than $5 million in federal money for northern Idaho counties to pay for fixing roads that were damaged by flooding and landslides in early April. Obama signed off on the disaster declaration Friday, the White House said.

Obama ordered federal money go toward repairs in Bonner, Clearwater, Idaho, Nez Perce and Shoshone counties and the Nez Perce Tribe reservation.

The damage includes more than 50,000 cubic yards of debris that covered two sections of Dent Bridge Road north of Orofino when a hillside gave way. A temporary road was built around the landslide.