USDA Invests $103 Million to Protect Lives, Property after Natural Disasters

Baton Rouge, La. – Acting Deputy Agriculture Secretary Michael Young has announced that U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing up to $103 million in fiscal year 2017 for disaster recovery efforts to help state, local and tribal units of government protect lives and property in disaster-affected areas following natural disasters.

Local units of government, or sponsors, will use financial and technical assistance from the Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP Program) to carry out much-needed recovery projects to remedy damages caused by natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes. Nearly $9 million will be used to fund disaster recovery projects, such as debris removal and streambank stabilization, in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina that will repair damages caused by Hurricane Matthew, a powerful storm that roared up the East Coast in late September through early October 2016.

Louisiana – $65 million for the purchase of floodplain easements on private land owned by individuals and public land owned by local, state and tribal governments after severe flooding adversely impacted eastern Louisiana in August 2016. In the city of Baton Rouge, approximately 30 homes in a development in Livingston Parish and about 20 homes in Pointe Coupee Parish will be demolished and the flood-prone land restored to its natural condition. Signups will be held in the two areas to enroll the land into the EWP-floodplain easement option.

Full details are available at https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDAOC/bulletins/188f731

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