Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards traveled to Shreveport and Monroe earlier this week to announce the award of Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) dollars to several local entities in the Northwest and Northeast areas of Louisiana impacted by the March 2016 flood.
These grants will be used to fund local resiliency projects aimed at equipping local governments with the tools needed to better withstand natural disasters in the future.
“Being able to fund these local resiliency projects highlight why we have been fighting so hard for every penny of federal disaster relief money,” said Gov. Edwards.
“While the March flood devastated parts of North Louisiana and left many of our fellow Louisianans fighting to rebuild their homes and businesses, local and state government will continue working just as hard as the people we serve to restore our communities and position them to better withstand dangerous natural disasters in the future.”
HMGP is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and is available statewide following a declared disaster to protect life and property from future risk.
The governor has the authority to allocate the funds for eligible mitigation activities. To be eligible, a project must be cost-beneficial (the benefits over the life of the project must exceed the cost of the project) and provide a long-term solution.
Specifically these funds are used to reduce future flood losses through activities such as elevating floodprone structures, improving drainage or providing greater flood protection.