FEMA grants to pay for damaged properties
March 16, 2009 · Updated 5:14 PM
Pierce County’s Surface Water Management Division has received federal funding to help acquire 16 residential properties along the Puyallup and Carbon rivers that were damaged during the November 2006 flood.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will cover 75 percent of the estimated $3.8 million cost of the properties. The state Department of Emergency Management and Pierce County will each pay 12.5 percent, or $474,000 each.
The grant from FEMA’s came about from the presidential disaster declarations following the flooding and windstorms in late 2006. Pierce County submitted four applications -- two for each disaster -- and all four were approved for grant awards. The money will be used to acquire 13 flood-damaged properties along the Carbon River and three properties along the Puyallup River. The properties were selected after a rigorous cost-benefit analysis for each property.
The owners of more than 50 properties requested to be bought out. If the owners agree to the prices, structures will be removed and the properties allowed to revert to natural and beneficial river floodplain conditions. This will help reduce public risk and flood impacts to nearby property in the future.
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