Trump Administration Delivers More Than $6.6 Million Through FEMA to Help Communities Recover from Recent Disasters and Strengthen Their Resilience Against Future Disasters in[...]

Last week, FEMA announced the approval of more than $6.6 million in funding for Public Assistance projects and Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program projects in South Dakota. These programs empower states, local communities, tribes and territories to recover from disasters, to rebuild more resilient, safer communities and to protect infrastructure from future events. With this funding, President Donald J. Trump is keeping his promise to reform federal disaster support and ensure that taxpayer money is spent only on projects that deliver safety and security to the American people.

The funding approved includes more than $2 million under FEMA's Public Assistance program awarded to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the City of Madison.

FEMA disburses this money to states, tribes, and local communities because they are best positioned to know how these funds will be most effectively spent. Public Assistance projects often include repairs to critical infrastructure, restoration of public buildings, road repairs and reimbursement for costs incurred to ensure public health and safety after a disaster.

Projects reimbursed through Public Assistance funding approved last week include:

• More than $1.4 million to the City of Madison to repair embankments that were damaged during severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding in 2019.
• More than $770,000 to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe to repair or replace embankments and roads that were damaged during severe winter storms and flooding in 2019.

FEMA also approved more than $4.4 million through the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program to empower states, local governments, territories and Tribal Nations to take decisive, proactive steps to protect their communities from potential disasters like fires, floods, earthquakes and hurricanes. This federal investment generates jobs, protects private property, strengthens infrastructure, reduces the cost of future disasters and-most importantly-save lives. The program maximizes state and local responsibility for resilience and risk reduction. This funding prioritizes infrastructure resilience by funding construction projects that are ready to implement and incentivizes the adoption of the latest hazard-resistant building codes.

• More than $2.4 million to Walworth County to fund Phase 2 of the City of Mobridge Resilient Systems Project which entails replacing the community's raw water intake pipelines. This includes installing new pipes, making modifications to the existing pumping system, upgrading the existing concrete caisson, and upgrading the control system.
• More than $1.9 million to Rapid City for comprehensive update of the city's fire codes to align with the 2024 International Fire Code edition and the ability to convert the city's system for planning, permitting, engineering, and inspecting to Cityworks or a similar platform across all relevant departments. This amount also includes subrecipient management costs.

These projects are the latest examples of billions of dollars in disaster recovery provided by FEMA to support state and local communities as they work to rebuild from recent natural disasters.

FEMA continues its renewed commitment to help communities recover from disasters like hurricanes, severe storms, tornadoes and wildfires while making them more resilient to future disasters.