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April 2008                                                                                                   Volume 14 - Number 3

Mitigation News...

FEMA mitigation funding and spending in Katrina and Rita

By Daniel Colcher

FEMA has a grant program focused on mitigation named Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). HMGP funds are activated following a disaster declaration and are based on a percentage of the estimated federal funding to be spent on Public and Individual Assistance programs. The HMGP can be used to fund projects to protect either public or private property, provided the project fits within the state's and local government's overall mitigation strategy and complies with HMGP guidelines. The objectives of the HMGP are to reduce or eliminate future risk to lives and property from all hazards, provide funds to implement projects previously identified in state or local hazard mitigation plans, and enable mitigation measures to be implemented during the immediate recovery from a disaster. In general, HMGP is issued to the state and the state administers the grant to the local projects.

There have been numerous mitigation grants issued post Katrina and Rita. Although the grants vary throughout the affected regions, they seem to maintain similar project scopes. The project types include structure elevation, wind retrofitting of facilities, property acquisition, planning, mitigated reconstruction, and safe room installation. The projects must be compliant with the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000).

One mitigation approach funded by FEMA was a plan to acquire 33 residential properties in Terrebonne Parish in Louisiana at a cost of $3 million. The structures are on the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) severe repetitive loss list of residential structures with excessive flood loss. Acquiring these severe repetitive loss properties removes them from the floodplain and eliminates future damages and health and safety risks for homeowners and potential rescuers. The federal funds allow the families to relocate to safer areas and the land is then restricted to open space, recreation or wetlands. In addition, the properties will no longer be eligible for any future federal disaster assistance.

Another project will supplement the cost of rebuilding utilizing mitigation techniques. Six properties in the Orleans Parish, also on the severe repetitive property loss list, will receive funding to demolish the existing structure and construct and improved, elevated structure on the same site. This may include pre-existing structures that were substantially damaged or destroyed due to the hurricanes. The homes will be elevated to a level one foot above the Advisory Base Flood Elevation.

When the funding is not for rebuilding or relocating houses, FEMA will issue grants to improve structures to mitigate future damage. At the Hammond Junior High School in Tangipahoa Parish, $81,000 will be spent to wind retrofit the school’s gymnasium. Hurricane shutters, designed to withstand up to 120 miles per hour winds, will be installed to cover all existing window and door openings. The new shutters will meet the requirements of the Louisiana Uniform Construction Code and will “significantly reduce the gym’s vulnerability to wind damage in future disasters.

The last main category of funding provided by FEMA after Katrina and Rita is local hazard mitigation plan funding. In Harrison County, around $160,000 will be spent to update the local hazard mitigation plan. In other areas which did not currently have a plan in place, FEMA is providing grant money to develop the plan and also implement parts of the new plan.

Sources:

http://www.fema.gov/news/katrinanews.fema

http://www.fema.gov/news/ritanews.fema