Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., speaks during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

CHARLESTON — U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said Thursday that she doesn’t believe future federal disaster declarations will take as long as the one West Virginia received this week for June flooding in Ohio and Marion counties.

Speaking to reporters on a Thursday conference call, Capito praised President Donald Trump for approving the declaration for the June 14 floods that devastated Triadelphia and Valley Grove in Ohio County and the June 15 flooding in Marion County.Capito said she advocated directly with White House officials last week during a bill signing for the HALT Fentanyl Act and during a dinner for lawmakers at the White House with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.

Capito also credited the work of West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey for quickly submitting the state’s application for relief as well as the rest of the state’s congressional delegation.

“I was bringing the case pretty hard last week. They told me at the end of the week we would get ours by the beginning of the week and Tuesday we did get it, so good news,” Capito said. “All the members of the delegation and the governor, we all worked together to make sure that we did this the right way, but also have good results.”

Capito reminded individuals in Ohio and Marion counties to visit DisasterAssistance.gov or call FEMA’s helpline at 1-800-621-3362 to apply for individual assistance. People can also download FEMA’s mobile app.

Trump, FEMA and even state officials have come under fire from some residents and the West Virginia Democratic Party for the length of time it took to receive the federal disaster declaration. While most disaster declarations over the last six months of the second Trump term have taken between 30 and 40 days to be approved, some states were able to receive a federal disaster declaration within days of their flood events.

But Capito said she does not believe West Virginia’s wait is indicative of a larger problem at FEMA.

“I think communities had to gather the assessments of damage – which the governor did and — and other methods to attain assistance and to get that declaration,” Capito said. “It takes a little bit of time and so that’s what we saw. I think we were just getting very impatient. We would hope we would get it right away because of all the damage, the loss of life and the emotional and financial damages.

“I don’t think this is a slow walk of disaster declarations,” Capito continued. “I think that it looks to me like they wanted to move in a group because there were three or four others that were declared at the same time. I have a feeling that was what might have held us up a little bit.”