Governor Lee, other officials visit West Tennessee community devastated by flooding

RIVES, Tenn. — Several government officials visited Rives Tuesday to survey the damage caused by severe weather.

Governor Lee, Congressman Kustoff, and the director of Tennessee Emergency Management Agency visited Rives on their tour through recent weather-impacted counties. Their goal was to assess the city’s current state and understand what they are in need of.

“Today, we’ve been in other parts of the state, but we came here as well to look at the damage, honestly to just begin the process of assessing,” said Governor Lee.

Several local officials voiced their concerns and the needs for their community. Mayor Burnes of Rives shares that the city is in need of levee restructuring and water pumps.

“This is something that obviously can happen, but nobody can prepare for, and we are where we are right now. Obviously tonight’s weather is gonna have an impact somehow on what we’re dealing with, but let’s work on our assessments, let’s evaluate, and I think that we have a really good local, state, federal partnership that appreciate the leadership of these two men,” said Kustoff.

Congressman Kustoff says they are early in the process, but they are in contact with several federal agencies to prepare for the damages the assessment will reveal.

“In terms of broader, disaster assistance is doing an assessment and calculating that, seeing how we compare against the legal thresholds for requesting a federal declaration this year, but we just want to make sure that Tennesseans are taken care of and that the community, the county and city are getting the support that they need,” said Patrick Sheehan, director for TEMA.

Governor Lee recognizes that as the snow is expected to fall this evening, conditions may worsen. He assures us that our officials are working together to ensure Tennesseans safety.

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