SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE PROPERTY DEBRIS REMOVAL IN PLAQUEMINES PARISH
BATON ROUGE, LA – September 5, 2012 – (RealEstateRama) — The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved supplemental funding for debris removal from private property in especially hard-hit Plaquemines Parish.
Debris removal from private property is generally not eligible for FEMA’s Public Assistance (PA) funding, but if debris on residential and private business property is so widespread that public health, safety and the economic recovery of the community is threatened, FEMA may help fund removal, but it must be approved in advance by FEMA.
“Removing a substantial amount of debris helps eliminate a safety and health hazard for residents,” said Mike Hall, FEMA federal coordinating officer. “We are committed to doing what we can to help Plaquemines Parish recover and get back to normal as soon as possible.”
FEMA’s Public Assistance (PA) Grant Program will pay 75 percent of the cost for eligible work and the local government will cost-share the remaining 25 percent.
For debris removal to be eligible the work must be necessary to:
- Eliminate an immediate threat to lives, public health and safety,
- Eliminate immediate threats of significant damage to improved public and private property when the measures are cost effective, or
- Ensure the economic recovery of the affected community to the benefit of the community-at-large.
Eligible removal includes the clearance, removal, and/or disposal of storm-generated debris such as trees, sand, gravel, building materials, wreckage, vehicles and personal property. Once property owners move disaster-related debris to a public right of way (curbside), local governments are reimbursed for curbside pickup and disposal.
For more information on Louisiana disaster recovery, visit online at www.fema.gov/disaster/4080 or www.gohsep.la.gov. You can follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/femaregion6 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FEMA. Also visit our blog at www.fema.gov/blog.
