The Lawrence County Workforce Investment Act has been awarded a Disaster National Emergency Grant. The grant will be used to hire crews of temporary workers to remove flood debris from public land and waterways as a result of the spring’s severe storms and flooding.

The Lawrence County Workforce Development Resource Center will hire approximately 100 people at $10.50 per hour to do the cleanup.

National NEG grants are funds issued by the U.S. Department of Labor to help states recover from significant events such as floods and natural disasters.

In the spring, counties in southern and southeaster Ohio sustained heavy damage from severe storms and flooding. Roadways were blocked with fallen trees and debris was left clogging streams and rivers, creating the potential for additional flooding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency surveyed the damage and approved the affected counties for public assistance.

This month, the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services received a Disaster NEG for up to $16.2 million to enable clean-up and debris removal in the affected counties. The initial award to cover the first several months of operation was $3.5 million.

Besides Lawrence, other approved counties include Athens, Guernsey, Jefferson, Monroe, Scioto, Belmont, Hocking, Morgan, Vinton, Gallia, Jackson, Meigs, Ross and Washington.