Federal Aid Approved for Atlantic County in Wake of Derecho

President Barack Obama made a federal disaster declaration for three New Jersey counties, including Atlantic, following the that tore through the Mid-Atlantic Region on June 30, Gov. Chris Christie announced late Thursday afternoon, July 19.

The other two counties covered by the declaration are Cumberland and Salem.

The declaration allows for federal assistance to state and eligible local governments, as well as certain nonprofit organizations for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by disaster, Christie said.

Following the storm, which brought with it winds of around 70 miles an hour and left unexpected damage, Atlantic City Electric customers lost power. At the height of the outages, 206,000 customers were without power, and some didn't have power for a week.

Trees were uprooted, power lines were downed, and according to the Governor's Office, there were three fatalaties.

was used as a for the township, and eventually, the county. housed nearly 2,000 working on storm cleanup for a week. Galloway Township was hit with about $1,144,550 worth of property damage.