Governor Jindal Announces an Additional $44.2 Million in Federal Funding for Post Gustav, Ike Hazard Mitigation

BATON ROUGE — Governor Jindal announced today that Louisiana will receive an additional $44.2 million in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funds to prevent future storm losses in Louisiana following hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

Governor Jindal said, “As we have learned from our experience recovering from four hurricanes over a three year period, we must build our communities back safer than before and find creative ways to reduce future damage. Dollars dedicated to mitigation have a four to one return on the original investment, making this a sound commitment to the future of our state.”

After hurricanes Gustav and Ike, Governor Jindal named the Louisiana Recovery Authority as the state mitigation team for these storms, meaning it had to approve uses for these funds. At the recommendation of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), which administers HMGP funds, the LRA’s board voted Thursday to approve priorities for this funding.

“We saw after hurricanes Gustav and Ike that homes that were elevated were generally spared great damage from these storms,” said Robin Keegan, executive director of the LRA. “These additional funds to help homeowners affected by the 2008 storms, when coupled with additional funds for coastal protection and restoration, will go a long way to rebuilding our communities back safer than they were before.”

FEMA awards HMGP funds based on the amount of FEMA Public Assistance funds approved for infrastructure repairs in a state. This recent round of funding brings Louisiana’s total allocation of HMGP funds for projects associated with Gustav and Ike to $221.8 million.

The state will set aside the majority of the money for parishes to support local hazard mitigation programs, which could include home elevations and other measures to protect areas of the parishes from loss in future storms, and the rest is allocated to state agencies for coastal protection and other safeguards.

The LRA and GOHSEP have allocated the additional funding as follows:

•$11,737,309 to the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration for flood protection / storm water management projects, erosion protection / reduction projects;
•$5,000,000 to GOHSEP for regional ESF-14 Community Safe Room retrofit and hardening;
•$23,000,000 to coastal parishes impacted by Gustav / Ike storm surge for residential elevations, divided among affected parishes based on damages, with allocations announced at a later date;
•$4,423,825 toward purchasing generators and related equipment for first responders and hospitals.
The addition of the $4.4 million brings the total funds available for “5 % initiative” projects to purchase generators for first responders and hospitals to a total of $22.1 million.

The state approved its first allocation of $177.6 million in funds last year. The broad allocations are:

•$33.3 million toward a pilot coastal restoration program and/or community safe houses;
•$125.6 million to be split among affected parishes; and
•$17.7 million to fund five percent state initiative programs, which typically are designed by GOHSEP to fill an unmet mitigation need.