Federal Disaster Aid to Local Governments Helping Rebuild Arkansas Communities
NORTH LITTLE ROCK – (RealEstateRama) — Federal officials today estimated more than $11.7 million in disaster assistance will help fund local governments’ recovery from this winter’s severe storms and flooding.
That funding is in addition to more than $2 million in federal disaster assistance to date that has helped individuals, families and businesses repair property and replace essential household items.
When disaster strikes, the first response is to ensure personal and family safety and then address the loss of property and possessions. The federal Individual Assistance program and U.S. Small Business Administration respond to these urgent needs of individuals and business owners.
Public Assistance is another essential element of disaster response. The PA program benefits everyone – neighborhoods, cities and states, as well as certain private nonprofit organizations.
PA dollars:
clean up the community and repair roads and bridges
put water systems and utilities back in order
repair hospitals and emergency services
rebuild libraries and replace damaged books
rebuild schools and universities and
restore damaged public parks so families can enjoy them again.
PA provides a minimum of 75 percent of the cost to repair or replace disaster-damaged infrastructure.
“Public Assistance grants support the work that helps an entire community recover,” said FEMA’s Federal Coordinating Officer John Long. “These are federal tax dollars coming back to Arkansas to rebuild taxpayer-funded infrastructure.”
Public Assistance grant recipients can include:
state agencies
local and county governments
private nonprofit organizations that own or operate facilities that provide essential government-type services
Recovery officials are currently working with more than 88 applicants to develop specifications and costs for about 310 projects in the 32 counties eligible for disaster assistance.
Other assistance helping to fuel the Arkansas recovery has come in the form of low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration and claims payments to households covered by the National Flood Insurance Program.
# # #
FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
