Efforts to build levees around coastal cities in Aberdeen and Hokiam to protect residents from future flooding. It is based on the Trump administration suspending the federal grant program.
As a catastrophic storm caused floods and landslides a decade ago, the city created plans to build one of the state’s largest pump stations and levees, suppressing water in the lowlands between the Whisker and Hokiam rivers.
The pump station was completed and the levee environmental review and permitting process was approaching completion when the city said $85 million had been withdrawn from the Federal Emergency Management Agency this month.
The end of the FEMA building’s resilient infrastructure and community grant program could dry out almost $195 million in federal funding for 27 projects across the state, according to the Washington Military Office.
The project includes the construction of a tsunami evacuation structure in Westport, adapting to sea level rise in the Lower Dewamish Valley, and updating the county’s hazard mitigation plan, including King and Snohomish.
In a written statement, Gov. Bob Ferguson said the cancellation of the FEMA program was “another reckless and harmful reduction from the Trump administration.”
Seattle officials say the city has been awarded three grants from the FEMA program since 2020. However, the city said it is unclear how much money is at risk.
Without Snohomish County funding, the mountain town of Darrington would not have the capacity to develop a hazard mitigation plan, Mayor Dan Rankin said in an interview. Without plans in place, the town may not be eligible for additional resources to assist in preparing or recovering natural disasters.
There are many small rural communities like Darrington, and we see more frequently natural disasters, such as fires and resulting debris flowing from burn scars, floods and storms, Rankin said. “If you don’t have the right documents and paperwork, not only will recovery be more difficult, but it’s not that effective.”
The state’s Ecological Office issued a warning about fragments of the FEMA grant program in a letter to the Washington Congressional delegation this week.
“Deleting these federal resources undermines longstanding ecology plans and longstanding cumulative investments by local, state and federal agencies,” writes Marissa Smith, special assistant to Ecology’s Director of Federal Affairs.
“Investing in risk reduction projects will significantly reduce the damage caused by extreme events such as natural disasters and floods,” Smith continued. “Funding for these projects reduces the need for federal disaster response and recovery funds and costs for the federally administered National Flood Insurance Program.”
White House representatives did not respond to requests for comment. When announcing plans to close the program earlier this month, FEMA news release calls the program “wasteful and ineffective.” News Release It will be identified Approximately $882 million to be withdrawn nationwide.
The program was established in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term. letter From Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a Republican, to femme’s representative, Cameron Hamilton. “The program is hand-up, not hand-up to risky communities suffering from catastrophic weather events,” writes Bresnahan.
In this week’s recommendation, FEMA said projects that have not started construction will not be approved and will be finished, and that phased projects may end “after Phase 1 is completed or at another appropriate stop.”
According to the cities of Hoquiam and Aberdeen, Grays Harbor’s levee aims to protect more than 5,100 properties, including more than 1,300 businesses and more than 3,000 jobs in flood areas. The project will include a total of 12 miles of embankment systems around the city.
City officials also hoped that the levee would reduce the cost of flood insurance, which was estimated to be more than $2 million a year in 2014, allowing for future development.
Seattle’s Low Income Housing Institute had planned to build a five-storey, affordable residential complex in Hokiam, but it pulled it out after failing to secure federally supported loans due to the location of the project in the flood zone, said Brian Shay, Hokiam city administrator.
“These are important projects for our city and our residents from a flood and economic development perspective, and we have to find a way to build them,” Shay said.
City officials hope that funds will recover in a different format or under a different title.
“It’s a very good project. It’s not a democratic project or a Republican project. It’s a people’s project, a real estate project,” said Glaze Harbor Commissioner Vicki Raines. “That’s the biggest thing for me. I don’t know why the program was eliminated.”
