The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced that it will allocate $349 million to help southern states recover from natural disasters and severe weather and create resilient communities in preparation for future events. The funds will be delivered through the Public Assistance and Hazard Mitigation grant programs to support communities in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
The Public Assistance program will provide the vast majority of the funds, accounting for $335.5 million to states, local communities and tribes. These awards prioritize initiatives that repair critical infrastructure, restore public buildings, repair roads and reimburse expenses made to support public health and safety following disasters.
Among the recipients receiving the largest sum through the program, the Texas Division of Emergency Management is slated to accept almost $120 million. The department will use the funding to execute debris removal operations resulting from severe storms, straight-line winds and flooding in July 2025.
Other notable program recipients include:
- The Tri-County Electric Cooperative in Oklahoma will spend $12.2 million to make permanent repairs needed as a result of the severe winter storm in 2017.
- The Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana will receive its own $9 million award for permanent repairs needed as a result of Hurricane Ida in 2021.
- The Mora-San Miguel Electric Cooperative in New Mexico will use more than $1.7 million to make permanent repairs as a result of 2022 wildfires, flooding mudflows and straight-line winds.
FEMA has also included more than $5 million as part of its holistic distribution through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. In a similar vein, the Hazard Mitigation program prioritizes efforts to prepare for and respond to natural disasters by building resilient infrastructure. Applicable projects for state, local, territory governments and Tribal Nations include buying hazard-prone homes and businesses, adopting and enforcing building codes and standards, implementing elevation and drainage improvement projects, building safe rooms and upgrading utilities and infrastructure.
Some of the projects receiving funding through this round include:
- Louisiana will receive more than $2.5 million to elevate 13 flood-prone residential structures in Jefferson Parish.
- New Mexico will spend $2.1 million to install two 2,000 kilowatt-hour diesel generators at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center.
The agency has also included $8.6 million in Individual Assistance grants to New Mexico.
Photo by Jimmy Liao from Pexels
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