Virginia Department of Emergency Management Announces Grant Opportunities Under Flood Mitigation Assistance and Hazard Mitigation Grant Programs

The Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) has announced grant funding opportunities under the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). Both programs are within the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance Program portfolio, which is aimed at “reduc[ing] the risk to individuals and property from natural hazards, while simultaneously reducing reliance on Federal disaster funds.” Both grants are open to cities, counties, towns, state agencies, and tribal governments.

The FMA program is designed to fund projects that reduce or eliminate the risk of recurrent flood damage to structures insured by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Project types eligible for grants include:

• Individual Flood Mitigation Projects
  o Property Acquisition and Structure Demolition or Relocation
  o Structure Elevation
  o Mitigation Reconstruction
  o Dry Floodproofing (non-residential structures)
  o Infrastructural, Structural, and Non-Structural Retrofitting
  o Soil Stabilization
• Community Flood Mitigation Projects: local level drainage/flood control projects to improve drainage and reduce flood risk for communities and can include numerous activities such as drainage pipes, pump stations, topographic grading, seawalls, marsh restoration, and other nature based solutions.
• Flood Mitigation Planning Activities
• Project Scoping
• Technical Assistance
• Management Costs.

The purpose of the HMGP is to provide funds for rebuilding that reduces the impact of future disaster-related losses. Project types eligible for grants include:

• Retrofitting existing buildings to make them less susceptible to damage from a variety of natural hazards.
• Purchasing hazard-prone property to remove people and structures from harm’s way.
• Utility and infrastructure retrofits to reduce risk of failure caused by natural hazards.
• Drainage improvement projects to reduce potential for flood damage.
• Slope stabilization projects to reduce risk to people and structures.
• Developing and adopting hazard mitigation plans (HMPs), which are required for state, local, tribal, and territorial governments to receive funding for hazard mitigation projects.
• Using aquifer storage and recovery, floodplain and stream restoration, flood diversion and storage, or green infrastructure methods to reduce the impacts of flood and drought.

Interested parties are invited to participate in one of several applicant webinars between to be held August 10 and August 18, 2022. Pre-applications for the grants are due to VDEM September 15, 2022, with full applications due November 10, 2022.

To learn more about these grants or GKY’s technical, policy & planning, and environmental solutions, contact us today.