Mitigation Programs
OCD Mitigation programs
Louisiana Watershed Initiative
LWI is funded by Community Development Block Grant—Mitigation funds, which are appropriated by Congress and allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and represent a unique and significant opportunity to carry out strategic and high-impact activities to mitigate disaster risks and reduce future losses, while simultaneously transforming state and local planning efforts. To see the MIT Federal Register notice, click here. In March and August 2016, Louisiana experienced two historic rain events that produced trillions of gallons of rainwater. The rising floodwaters reached more than 145,000 homes throughout the state, leaving behind an estimated $10 billion in damage and resulting in recovery efforts that will take years to complete. These devastating events exposed key weaknesses in Louisiana’s approach to floodplain management and risk-reduction planning at all levels of government. In response, Gov. John Bel Edwards charged several state agencies with coordinating their efforts to develop a new approach to reducing flood risk throughout Louisiana, thus creating the Louisiana Watershed Initiative. LWI’s work ranges from the development of hydraulic and hydrologic models to the development of watershed coalitions in coordination with parish, state and federal entities. The Initiative has made significant progress and many findings have emerged that are helping to inform the state’s shift from mitigating flood risk within jurisdictional boundaries to an approach that more directly takes into account the flow of water and its natural boundaries. For more information, click on the Watershed links in the right column menu.
LA SAFE and the Resettlement of Isle de Jean Charles
Louisiana was one of several states eligible to compete for $1 billion in resilience funding made available through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development via Community Development Block Grant—Disaster Recovery funds drawn from the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013. On June 14, 2014, President Obama announced the National Disaster Resilience Competition, in which states that experienced a presidentially declared major disaster in 2011, 2012 or 2013 could compete for nearly $1 billion in Community Development Block Grant funding to help communities rebuild and increase their resilience. On Sept. 17, 2014, HUD officially launched the competition, which promoted risk assessment and planning, to fund the implementation of innovative resilience projects that will better prepare communities for future storms and other extreme events. All successful applicants needed to tie their proposals to the eligible disaster(s) from which they were recovering. Louisiana’s eligible disaster was Hurricane Isaac in 2012. Judges considered 67 applicants before awarding grants to 13 cities and states. Louisiana received $92,629,249 in NDRC funding to support the Louisiana Strategic Adaptations for Future Environments program. LA SAFE seeks to protect coastal wetlands in and around southeast Louisiana, retrofit communities to withstand increased flooding risk and reshape high-ground areas to maximize their use and safety. The NDRC funds will also enable a tribal community on Isle de Jean Charles, which has experienced a 98 percent loss of land since 1955, to relocate to a resilient and historically contextual community.
