President signs Sandy disaster decree for Pa.

    The federal government has declared a major disaster in Pennsylvania from last year’s Superstorm Sandy.

    President Barack Obama signed the disaster declaration Thursday.The Federal Emergency Management Agency says more disaster relief could be approved in the future if ongoing damage assessments show it’s needed.

    The declaration makes aid available for state and local efforts to recover from the effects of sandy between Oct. 26 and Nov. 8 of last year.

    Federal funding will be available for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities. It applies to affected areas in Bedford, Bucks, Cameron, Dauphin, Forest, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Monroe, Northampton, Pike, Potter, Somerset, Sullivan, and Wyoming counties.

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    The storm caused record outages in Pennsylvania. At its peak, 1.2 million customers in the state were without power.

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