Jasper And Livingston Set For Crucial FEMA Mitigation Dollars
Disaster Mitigation: The sustained, proactive actions taken to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk and severity of disasters. That definition is one of the essential functions of emergency management on all levels. Mitgation can reduce the cost of lives and property from disasters before they strike.
More than $17 million in federal funding for disaster mitigation and infrastructure improvement projects are headed to Alabama, including two dispursements in West Alabama. They are part of a larger FEMA initiative aimed at reducing the impact of future natural disasters across the entire Southeast.
The projects to be funded in Alabama include drainage upgrades and floodplain restoration to critical facility improvements and transportation infrastructure repairs. Among the eight mitigation fund dispersements in Alabama are two in West Alabama communities:
- $893,000 for flood mitigation infrastructure improvements in Jasper, and
- $3 million for storm drainage improvements in Livingston, located in Sumter County.
According to a FEMA press release, the funding is intended to support proactive mitigation efforts that can lessen the severity of future disasters and reduce long-term recovery costs for local governments and taxpayers.
Nationwide, FEMA expects to distribute more than $189 million for 125 mitigation projects in 40 states and one tribal nation. The agency said the investments are aimed at helping communities address vulnerabilities before severe weather events and other disasters occur.
The funding announcement represents one of the largest recent federal investments in disaster mitigation projects in Alabama.
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