State & FEMA to Fund Idaho Falls Mitigation Projects
Release Date: February 8, 1999
Release Number: R10-99-05
Boise, Idaho -- The Idaho Bureau of Disaster Services (BDS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) today announced two Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) projects, designed to prevent repeated flooding in the City of Idaho Falls. The grants will cover construction of a five-acre detention basin near the Idaho Falls High School, and a .25 acre detention basin near 8th Street, to provide for the temporary storage and filtering of storm water, until it can be pumped into the Crow Creek drainage system and on into the Snake River.
The high school project was approved for $258,500. The 8th Street basin will cost $293,000.
According to David L. de Courcy, Regional Director for FEMA Region 10, HMGP grants are used to reduce or eliminate future risk to life and property. "Experience has shown that every mitigation dollar spent saves two dollars in disaster response and recovery costs," said de Courcy. "The HMGP program is a perfect fit for the Administration's new Project Impact: Building Disaster-Resistant Communities initiative, which partners local communities and local businesses with state and federal agencies, to break the disaster-recovery-disaster cycle."
Stephen Weiser, BDS Assistant Deputy Director for Mitigation, concurs. "Mitigation means reducing the threat to life and property from natural and man-caused hazards," said Weiser. "The community identified these projects. Using hazard mitigation grant money from state and federal sources, we were able to help the city develop these projects."
Last Modified: Thursday, 01-Jan-2004 13:36:36