On the afternoon of Friday, February 11, the office of Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards published a press release that announced $100 million in “Hazard Mitigation Funding” has been dedicated for parishes affected by the many natural disasters of the previous couple years. Parishes that dealt with impacts from “Hurricane Zeta, the severe winter weather event in 2021, the May 2021 flooding event, and Hurricane Ida” will be receiving money for projects that will better prepare them for these types of disasters in the future. In total, this money will be spread out across 33 different parishes—with some parishes, like Grant Parish, only receiving around $300,000 while others, like Terrebonne Parish, will get over $17.6 million in funding.
For its part, Plaquemines Parish falls somewhere in between these two extremes, receiving around $2.9 million.
“I am proud of our work with our state, local and federal partners in securing this funding,” Governor. Edwards stated in the press release. “It is critically important that we look for ways to speed up recovery from these four recent events while using [Hazard Mitigation Grant Program] funds to minimize the impacts of future events.”
Based on information in the press release, this funding will be provided to Plaquemines through a FEMA grant program. Parish president Kirk Lepine stated that this means the money can only be used on projects that deal with “hazard mitigation.” The press release itself outlines “mitigation work” as residential elevation, reconstruction/ acquisition of flood prone structures and converting land to green space, drainage improvements, and emergency power for critical facilities.
“With these kinds of grants, you can only use the funding on pretty specific kinds of projects. I hope we’re able to use it for home elevations because that’s something our residents are going to really need,” Lepine stated, explaining that with the implementation of new FEMA flood maps and regulations, many residents and businesses will have to elevate their homes to be incompliance. “Even with the money we got, it’s only enough to raise around 12 homes. I wish it was more, honestly.”
Lepine added that, even though Plaquemines endured an amount of damage in Hurricane Ida on par with the rest of the southeast Louisiana region, other parishes with larger populations got more money.
“I wish these kinds of grants were based on how much damage was incurred rather than population,” Lepine said. “In the end, it’s really up to the council how the money is spent, but, as I said before, I think it should be focused on home elevations.”
At the end of the press release it is noted that this $100 million is “the first installment of [Hazard Mitigation Grant Program] funding.” Sometime in the future, “additional rounds of funding for Hurricane Ida will be announced.”