October 22
October 22, 2007
Richard Weaver
October 24, 2007Some $397,023 in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds has been approved by the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The money will be used to acquire three properties in Lafourche considered to be severe repetitive loss properties.
The properties are subdivision lots. Two are located in Lockport and one is in Thibodaux.
“By acquiring these homes, the state’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program is working to reduce damage from future storms,” LRA board member Tim Coulon said.
The structures on the three properties are on the National Flood Insurance Program’s severe repetitive loss list of residential structures with excessive flood loss.
“By purchasing these residential properties, Lafourche Parish is utilizing an effective program designed to move people and property away from high-risk areas to reduce disaster losses,” FEMA’s director of the Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office Jim Stark said.
Severe repetitive loss homes are those that suffered damages of $1,000 or more on at least four occasions or those that have suffered damages of more than 50 percent of the home’s value on two or more occasions, according to the NFIP.
About 1,700 homes-nearly one-third of the severely repetitive damaged homes in the United States-are located in Louisiana.
Once the land is purchased from the landowner, it is then restricted to being open space, recreation or wetlands in perpetuity. And the properties will no longer be eligible for any future disaster relief assistance.
The LRA authorized the release of $250 million for hazard mitigation. The funds require a 25 percent match from parish governments or state agencies.
Projects eligible for the funding include structure elevation, wind retrofitting of facilities, property acquisition, planning, mitigated reconstruction and safe room installation.
And the projects must fit within the state and local government’s overall mitigation strategy and comply with HMGP guidelines.
A congressionally-mandated study for FEMA revealed every one dollar spent on disaster mitigation saves taxpayers an average of $4.
The grant is split 75 percent and 25 percent between the federal government and the state government, respectively. It includes the appraised land value and the cost of demolition.
