Jan. 27, 2023 16:36 PM EST

S. Dakota Tribes Seek Disaster Declaration In Storm Recovery

By AMANCAI BIRABEN
Associated Press
Snow blanketed the Northern Black Hills on Dec. 15, 2022, as a winter storm dumped about 3 feet in some areas and shut down roads around the state. The strong winds blew drifts up to 10 feet high in some areas. This photo was taken about 220 miles northwest of the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, where the tribe says the death of six people during the storm could have been prevented. (Jason Gross/Black Hills Pioneer via AP) Jason Gross, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Snow blanketed the Northern Black Hills on Dec. 15, 2022, as a winter storm dumped about 3 feet in some areas and shut down roads around the state. The strong winds blew drifts up to 10 feet high in some areas. This photo was taken about 220 miles northwest of the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, where the tribe says the death of six people during the storm could have been prevented. (Jason Gross/Black Hills Pioneer via AP)
A South Dakota state snow plow clears a shoulder along Highway 50 on the north edge of Yankton, S.D., on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, as light snow swept by strong winds reduced visibility to a quarter-mile at times. Yankton is about 200 miles east of the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, which was battered by a mid-December snowstorm that left roads impassable. A 12-year-old asthmatic boy was among six people who died on the reservation during the storm. The tribe says all of the deaths could have been prevented were it not for systemic failures and a lack of timely help. (Kelly Hertz/Yankton Press & Dakotan via AP)
Snow blanketed the Northern Black Hills on Dec. 15, 2022, as a winter storm dumped about 3 feet in some areas and shut down roads around the state. The strong winds blew drifts up to 10 feet high in some areas. This photo was taken about 220 miles northwest of the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, where the tribe says the death of six people during the storm could have been prevented. (Jason Gross/Black Hills Pioneer via AP)
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PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s congressional delegation wrote letters to President Joe Biden in support of the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations’ requests for a major disaster declaration following winter storms that left six people dead.

The declaration would assist the tribes’ recovery from destruction that tribal leaders say could have been prevented if there had been more resources to assist people stranded by the December storms. The requests outline that the weather's severity blocked access to medical and heating supplies.

Both the Oglala Sioux and Rosebud Sioux tribes are asking for the declaration to address emergency costs and damages.

“The emergency operations conducted by the tribe reduced the storms’ impact and accelerated the recovery of tribal communities," U.S. Sens. John Thune and Mike Rounds, and U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, wrote in a letter to Biden on Thursday. "Despite these efforts, a number of tribal members remained trapped in their homes and were unable to access necessary supplies.”

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