HispanicBusiness

President Obama has signed Mississippi's emergency declaration, the White House announced today.

The declaration allows federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts because of Hurricane Isaac approaching the Gulf Coast on Tuesday.

The declaration authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency "to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe."

It authorizes FEMA to mobilize and provide equipment and other resources necessary to respond to the disaster and its aftermath. The president's signature on the declaration authorizes 75 percent federal funding for emergency protection measures, among other provisions. The declaration covers Jackson, Harrison, Hancock, Pearl River, Stone, George counties, as well as several upland counties in Mississippi.