WASHINGTON — The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved 12 emergency declarations in early February 2026 as a powerful winter storm system moved across the United States, bringing ice, heavy snow, and freezing temperatures that caused significant damage to residential and commercial structures.
The emergency declarations, approved by President Trump, allowed affected states to request federal expertise and resources to help protect and save lives, and to mitigate the threat of a major disaster.
Restoration industry organizations reported a surge in service calls across the affected regions, with burst pipe claims and ice dam damage driving the majority of emergency calls. The Insurance Information Institute noted that winter storm losses in the U.S. have increased significantly over the past decade as aging housing stock becomes more vulnerable to extreme cold.
The storm system followed a pattern of increasingly severe winter weather events that have strained restoration contractor capacity in northern and midwestern states. Industry analysts noted that the back-to-back nature of winter storm events in early 2026 left little recovery time between mobilizations.
FEMA's emergency declarations differ from major disaster declarations in that they are typically shorter in duration and focused on protective measures rather than long-term recovery assistance. Several of the affected states subsequently applied for major disaster declarations as the full scope of damage became clear.
