Plymouth County is tentatively one step away from receiving federal assistance after the heavy winter storms on March 2 and 3 this year.

The Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Administrator David Miller has signed a letter supporting a Presidential Emergency Declaration for the county.

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Now the letter must go to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for their approval.

"We're just waiting for an answer," said county Emergency Management Coordinator Gary Junge, who applied for the assistance.

To qualify, he explained, the county needed to have within 10 percent of the record snowfall, which was 16 inches. Doing the math, that's 14.4 inches.

According to National Weather Service numbers, Plymouth County received as much snowfall as 16.2 inches, 15.4 inches and 15.5 inches in various areas.

Junge said he can't recall any time in recent history that the county has applied for snow emergency assistance.

"I don't know if we ever have," he said.

If FEMA would approve the assistance, they would contact Junge and explain how it would work.

Junge said applying for the Declaration of Assistance was made possible through the cooperation of many agencies including the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the National Weather Service and local emergency management agencies. He also credited the state, county and city responders and organized volunteers who worked "in very stressful conditions" to overcome the March snow emergency.

"A very good example of our Midwest tradition of helping each other in time of need," he said.