FEMA Announces FY2023 Flood Mitigation Assistance Selections

FEMA has announced nearly $715 million in Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) funding for 197 projects across 25 states. The program, designed to reduce flood damage to properties insured under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), focuses on enhancing community resilience through various initiatives.

Through this program, FEMA provides funding to states, local communities, Tribal Nations and territories to reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flood damage to buildings insured under the National Flood Insurance Program. This round of selections ranges from Texas, $236 million for 43 projects, to West Virginia, $202,000 for one project. It’s expected more than 775 buildings will be protected.

In this grant cycle, FEMA received the highest number of subapplications—424—and the most federal cost share requested—over $2.35 billion—since the creation of the grant program in 1994.

FMA provides funding across three categories:

• Capability and Capacity Building Activities, such as project scoping to develop project plans and designs. FEMA received 108 subapplications requesting over $48.71 million in federal cost share for capability and capacity building activities. This is a 79% increase in requests for this project type this year.

• Localized Flood Risk Reduction Projects, which help build resilience to flooding at the community level, including floodplain management, wetland, marsh, riverine and coastal restoration and protection. This year, FEMA received 138 subapplications, nearly three times the amount in the previous fiscal year, for these types of projects. 
• Individual Flood Mitigation Projects, which protect individual homes and buildings from flooding, including by buying out or elevating properties above flood levels.

This year’s selections prioritized disadvantaged communities, with approximately 51% allocated to these areas, an 18% increase over last year’s cycle. Examples of these community-wide projects funded areas include:

• Belhaven, North Carolina will reduce flooding in communities vulnerable to wind-driven tides and severe weather by installing pumps and an automated tidal gate along Wynne’s Gut. The system aims to mitigate the number of repetitive property losses. The tidal gate will prevent tidal water from entering, while the pump station will discharge rainfall runoff, ensuring a quicker recovery for essential community lifelines.
• Jefferson County, Texas will address severe flooding in three vulnerable areas serviced by storm sewers, ditches, channels and detention basins. The solution includes enhancing drainage to the Neches River.
• In Kansas, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City will advance its floodplain management program to prevent or reduce the risk of flooding and work to improve the Community Rating System class.

This is the 30th anniversary of the Flood Mitigation Assistance program. Total funding for project selections have increased significantly in recent years, jumping nearly five times from the amount available—$160 million — for the FY21 grant cycle. In total, program funding over the past five years sits at $3.5 billion.

For more information and a list of selections, visit FEMA.gov.