FEMA Awards $1.1 Million to Arkansas for 2012 Christmas Day Storm

DENTON, Texas – More than $1.1 million is being awarded to the state of Arkansas by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reimburse Saline County for debris removal costs from a 2012 Christmas Day winter storm.

The FEMA grant was approved after it was determined that the project for removing debris, including hanging limbs in the county required additional funding. The federal share of the $1,100,760 is 75 percent of the project’s total of $1,467,681. FEMA awards funding for projects directly to the state of Arkansas; the state then forwards the grant to the eligible applicant.

To date, FEMA has awarded more than $8.5 million to Arkansas for the Dec. 25-26, 2012 storm that received a presidential declaration on Jan. 29, 2013.  The majority of the public assistance funding was for emergency work totaling more than $6.3 million, while the remaining $2.1 million paid for permanent work.

The mission of FEMA’s Public Assistance (PA) Grant Program is to provide assistance to state, tribal and local governments, and certain types of private nonprofit organizations so that communities can quickly respond to and recover from major disasters or emergencies declared by the president.

Through the PA Program, FEMA provides supplemental federal disaster grant assistance for debris removal, emergency protective measures, and the repair, replacement, or restoration of disaster-damaged, publicly owned facilities and the facilities of certain private nonprofit (PNP) organizations. 

Learn more about FEMA’s Public Assistance program online www.fema.gov/public-assistance-local-state-tribal-and-non-profit.

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