FEMA Obligates $1 Million to St. John Parish for Emergency Measures

BATON ROUGE, La. – A new $1 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will help St. John Parish cover its costs for emergency efforts for protecting citizens during Hurricane Isaac in late August, FEMA has announced.

Responding to the hurricane, the parish ordered evacuations and rerouted traffic away from storm-affected areas, conducted search-and-rescue operations and secured improved properties, among other protective efforts.

The $1,004,306 FEMA grant will pay the federal share of St. John’s eligible costs for overtime labor, equipment and materials for the operations. Under a cost-sharing formula, FEMA reimburses the state for 75 percent of the total costs, while the state and/or applicant cover the remaining 25 percent.

“Our primary goal is to protect lives during a disaster event like Hurricane Isaac, and St. John Parish made considerable effort to do just that,” said Federal Coordinating Officer Gerard M. Stolar. “FEMA grants for protective measures strongly support these activities.”

Once FEMA pays the funds to the state of Louisiana, their management, including disbursement to local governments and organizations performing services, is the responsibility of the state. The obligated funds are a portion of more than $108 million in total Public Assistance recovery funds obligated to the state since the Aug. 29 declaration for Hurricane Isaac.

For more information on Louisiana disaster recovery, click www.fema.gov/disaster/4080 or www.gohsep.la.gov. You can follow FEMA on Twitter at www.twitter.com/femaregion6 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FEMA. Also visit our blog at www.fema.gov/blog.

Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status.  If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-FEMA (3362). For TTY call 800-462-7585.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.  Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/femaregion6, the R6 Hurricane Preparedness website at www.fema.gov/about/regions/regionvi/updates.shtm and the FEMA Blog at http://blog.fema.gov.