The White House Friday announced that President Trump approved a major disaster declaration for 11 Mississippi counties — including Warren — who suffered widespread damage as a result of severe storms between Feb. 10 and Feb. 18.

The disaster declaration orders federal assistance to supplement state and local recovery from the storms that caused flash flooding, mudslides, and in the case of Warren County, massive damage to roads throughout the county.

In recent weeks, the Warren County Board of Supervisors, along with county engineer Keith O’Keefe, have worked through damage assessments of 47 damaged road sites throughout the county. Some of those damaged sites have been repaired by county road crews, while others will need more extensive repairs.

In late March, O’Keefe presented a report to supervisors detailing each of the damaged sites and an estimated cost in repairs. In all, the estimates totaled more than $10 million.

As they have continued to work through the repairs — both temporary and permanent — the county has kept account of all monies spent thus far on materials and labor, working to find reimbursement from state and federal agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Highway Administration and the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

One of the sites that suffered the most severe damage during that period of severe weather was Redwood Road. The heavily-traveled thoroughfare was shut down for weeks as crews worked to remove mudslides and account for a drop and shift in the roadway.

The 11 counties included in the declaration are Attala, Carroll, Claiborne, Clay, Copiah, Grenada, Hinds, Holmes, Leflore, Warren and Yazoo.