Federal disaster assistance approved Wednesday will help counties and reservations throughout South Dakota repair roads, bridges and other infrastructure damaged in June's floods.

However, Pennington County is not included in the list of counties eligible for cost-share assistance for emergency work or the repair of facilities damaged by storms and flooding.

Pennington County Commission Chairwoman Brenda Young was surprised to learn the county is not among 27 counties singled out for the assistance program.

"That's kind of discouraging," Young said. "We'll have to see if there's something we can do about that."

The news was brighter for Butte County, which did make the list. The county is facing bridge repairs estimated at $900,000 - about a fifth of the county's overall annual budget. About 60 bridges are in need of repair.

"I'm so excited," county auditor Elaine Jensen said. "It will be just such a significant help to us."

She and county commissioners, in the middle of building next year's budget, were facing tough decisions, including serious cuts to county services had the federal disaster money not come through, Jensen said.

Other needs there include rebuilding culverts and road surfaces, she said, in a county with 822 miles of road.

Gov. Mike Rounds said a decision on South Dakota's request for individual assistance is pending.

President Bush signed the disaster declaration Wednesday, authorizing the federal government to provide financial assistance for up to 75 percent of the eligible damage to public infrastructure.

The state will cover 15 percent of the remaining eligible costs, and the last 10 percent will be the responsibility of the applicants.

The money will help 27 South Dakota counties and the Crow Creek, Cheyenne River and Lower Brule reservations.

The counties are Aurora, Bon Homme, Brule, Buffalo, Butte, Charles Mix, Clay, Dewey, Douglas, Gregory, Haakon, Hand, Hanson, Hughes, Hutchinson, Jackson, Lawrence, Lyman, McCook, Meade, Mellette, Moody, Perkins, Stanley, Tripp, Turner and Ziebach.

South Dakota's congressional delegation praised the move in a prepared statement.

Senators Tim Johnson and John Thune and Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin earlier this month sent a letter to President Bush urging him to support a disaster declaration.

"The severe weather that affected much of South Dakota late this spring has had devastating impacts on communities across the state," Herseth Sandlin said. "I was pleased to work with Tim and John in support of the governor's request to declare a federal disaster in certain counties and reservations in South Dakota. I encourage communities across South Dakota to act quickly to access funds available to them so they can start the process of recovery."