Nearly a month after a series of storms devastated a large part of Eastern South Dakota the state is looking for help from the Federal Government.

Friday afternoon (June 10), Governor Kristi Noem requested a Disaster Declaration from President Joe Biden for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance to help with repairs for damage done to public infrastructure.

Preliminary estimates say the May 12 storms caused more than $6.7 million in damage in Aurora, Beadle, Bon Homme, Brookings, Clay, Codington, Day, Deuel, Grant, Hamlin, Hanson, Hutchinson, Kingsbury, Lake, McCook, Minor, Minnehaha, Moody, Roberts, and Turner Counties, as well as the Flandreau Indian and Lake Traverse Reservations.

Get our free mobile app

Two people died in the storms, which produced 14 tornadoes and wind gusts of more than 100 miles per hour in some places. Nearly 70,000 people went without power for an extended period of time.

The governor's office says South Dakota currently has six open Presidential disaster declarations for other events and is working with FEMA on the recovery process for each of those disasters.

Also Friday, Governor Noem signed Executive Order 2022-06 to help South Dakota local governments recover from the damage caused by the storms. The order invokes provisions under the state's Emergency Management law and remains in effect for three months.

LOOK: The most expensive weather and climate disasters in recent decades

Stacker ranked the most expensive climate disasters by the billions since 1980 by the total cost of all damages, adjusted for inflation, based on 2021 data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The list starts with Hurricane Sally, which caused $7.3 billion in damages in 2020, and ends with a devastating 2005 hurricane that caused $170 billion in damage and killed at least 1,833 people. Keep reading to discover the 50 of the most expensive climate disasters in recent decades in the U.S.

TIPS: Here's how you can prepare for power outages

KEEP READING: What to do after a tornado strikes

More From KSOO-AM / ESPN Sioux Falls