PHILADELPHIA (WVDN) — Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more severe due to climate change, leading to increased response and recovery missions across the nation. This week, FEMA announced nearly $1.9 million in new project selections to eliminate or reduce flood damage in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The funding comes through the Flood Mitigation Assistance program to help communities across the nation enhance resilience to extreme weather events. This is the 30th anniversary of the Flood Mitigation Assistance program, created in 1994. Over the past 30 years, approximately $2 billion has been obligated by FEMA to address the nation’s costliest annual disaster.
Through this program, FEMA provides funding to states, local communities, Tribal Nations and territories to reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flood damage to buildings insured under the National Flood Insurance Program.
There are three categories of funding which include:
- Capability and Capacity Building Activities, such as project scoping to develop project plans and designs.
- Localized Flood Risk Reduction Projects, which help build resilience to flooding at the community level, including floodplain management, wetland, marsh, riverine and coastal restoration and protection.
- Individual Flood Mitigation Projects, which protect individual homes and buildings from flooding, including by buying out or elevating properties above flood levels.
This home in Hampton, Virginia was elevated through Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) funding. (Credit: Nicholas Monteleone/ FEMA)
The announcement also aligns with FEMA’s 2024 Year of Resilience campaign, as well as the goals of the National Climate Resilience Framework, and will help build capacity to withstand tomorrow’s hazards.
“The projects selected in Region 3 are an example of the many different ways that FMA funding can be used to make communities more resilient to flooding,” said FEMA Region 3 Regional Administrator MaryAnn Tierney. “While we look forward at the impact these future projects will have, it is also important to take a moment and celebrate the 30th anniversary of the FMA program and the difference it has made for communities not just here in Region 3, but across the country.”
Region 3 Flood Mitigation Assistance FY23 Selections:
State Number of Selections Total Funding for Selections (rounded)
Maryland 2 $851, 195
Pennsylvania 4 $832,605
West Virginia 1 $202,125
West Virginia: Division of Emergency Management Strategic Flood Plan
$202,125
This project will develop a framework for long-term Flood Mitigation Assistance projects through the development of the state’s strategic flood mitigation plan. The plan aims to identify and profile flood hazards, analyze vulnerabilities, and implement capability assessment to address at-risk communities. It will focus on repetitive loss structures and aligns strategic mitigation actions with future grant funding opportunities. A key goal of the plan is to link grant funding to flood hazards identified in the State Hazard Mitigation Plan. The plan creation process includes setting goals, assessing existing mitigation actions, analyzing data, identifying new actions, and prioritizing grant submissions.
Projects in Maryland and Pennsylvania will include elevating and reconstructing homes to make them more resilient to flooding and creating engineering plans for future projects to protect communities from flooding. Additionally, FEMA is funding the voluntary acquisition of properties that have been flooded repeatedly.
In total, FEMA selected 197 projects in National Flood Insurance Program-participating communities in 25 states. In addition to flood control activities, the selections will reduce risk to individual properties through actions like elevations, acquisitions and mitigation reconstruction of buildings insured by NFIP.
The selections complement a July announcement of $1 billion nationwide through FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program and the current $300 million funding opportunity through Flood Mitigation Assistance’s Swift Current—another important part of the President’s Investing in America Agenda—to make the nation more resilient to natural hazards. Both programs provide climate resilience funding to help address increased demand for federal funds to address the climate crisis.
If you have any questions, please contact FEMA Region 3 Office of External Affairs at femar3newsdesk@fema.dhs.gov.
