U.S. Senator Susan Collins today announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded the Town of Kennebunk a grant in the amount of $1,127,906. Senator Collins is Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which has jurisdiction over FEMA.
According to FEMA, the funding will enable the community to assist residents in flood prone areas along the Mousam River that have experience severe flooding several times in recent years and were most recently damaged during the Patriots Day storm in April 2007. The Town plans to purchase and demolish three properties and elevate nine others in hopes of limiting the potential of future flooding.
“I am pleased that FEMA has agreed to work with the Town of Kennebunk to address the long-standing problems caused by flooding along the Mousam River,” said Senator Collins. “This funding will help allow the Town of Kennebunk to move forward with its mitigation plans to prevent costly damage in the future. I applaud the work of all of those involved in this process, especially Town Manager Barry Tibbetts for his dedicated service and the residents who have suffered the personal and emotional losses caused by the damaging floods.”
These funds have been made available from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). The HMGP provides grants to States and local governments to implement long-term hazard mitigation measures after a major disaster declaration. The purpose of the HMGP is to reduce the loss of life and property due to natural disasters and to enable mitigation measures to be implemented during the immediate recovery from a disaster.
In addition, FEMA recently announced that it has also approved $2,714,392 in grant funding for the Kennebunk Sewer Plant project which was also damaged during the Patriot’s Day storm. This funding will be used to repair damage in the control building, the pump house, the storage building, and the process building.
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