Thirteen additional Virginia counties and four cities have been approved for federal assistance to help local governments and select private, nonprofit facilities recover from Hurricane Irene.

The Virginia Department of Emergency Management says the
counties are Accomack, Caroline, Charles City, Chesterfield,
Dinwiddie, Henrico, King George, King and Queen, King William,
Mathews, Northumberland, Prince George and Surry.

The cities are Colonial Heights, Franklin, Petersburg and Richmond.

Twenty-two other localities, most of them in eastern and Southside Virginia, were previously approved for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's public assistance program, which
typically pays 75 percent of recovery costs.

The state has not yet requested federal aid for individuals and businesses.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)