The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved the release of more than $162.8 million in post-disaster funding for Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas to pay for road and electrical repairs, flood studies, drainage systems, and high-water warning technology.
The agency distributed the funding among Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas through its two major programs, with more than $160.4 million, the largest share, is awarded through the agency’s Public Assistance program.
The money can be used to help state and local governments repair damaged infrastructure, restore public buildings, fix roads, and reimburse communities for emergency expenses incurred to protect public health and safety after a disaster.
Another portion of the funding supports projects that prevent or reduce future disaster damage through FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.
FEMA’s Public Assistance program
FEMA’s Public Assistance program does not generally mean direct cash payments to individual disaster victims. The program instead offers funding to governments, communities, and eligible organizations facing the enormous costs of disaster recovery.
The money can help pay for repairs to damaged roads and infrastructure, restoration of public buildings, repairs to electrical and utility systems, debris removal, emergency protective measures, and other costs associated with protecting public health and safety.
According to FEMA, states and local communities are in a position to determine how the funding can be used most effectively.
What does New Mexico get?
New Mexico is receiving funding for a project linked to the devastating 2022 wildfires, flooding, and mudflows.
FEMA has approved more than $ 362,000 for the Gallinas Canal Acequia Association to repair or replace damaged drainage channel infrastructure. It includes work on a headgate, embankment, and culvert, critical components of the acequia system, that were damaged by the catastrophic chain of wildfires and subsequent flooding and mudflows that battered parts of northern New Mexico.
Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma
Other Public Assistance projects also include more than $2.3 million for Garland, Texas, to make permanent repairs to the city’s electrical distribution system following severe storms in 2024; more than $1 million for West Monroe, Louisiana, for debris removal operations following the 2026 winter storm; and nearly $108,000 for Sulphur, Oklahoma to repair or replace building components damaged during severe storms in 2024.
Hazard Mitigation Grant Program
Public Assistance helps communities recover from disasters. But FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program focuses on preventing future disasters from causing the same level of destruction.
The program supports projects that seek to prevent, eliminate, or reduce future disaster-related damage. That can include buying flood-prone homes and businesses, improving drainage systems, elevating structures in flood-prone areas, enforcing stronger building codes, constructing safe rooms, upgrading utilities and infrastructure, and installing warning and alert systems.
Mitigation projects are being funded
The major stormwater and drainage master plan in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, was among the newly approved projects, with FEMA providing $2.5 million to increase drainage capacity, reduce flood risks, and help officials identify the areas most vulnerable to future flooding.
In Texas, FEMA provided more than $1.6 million for a Harris County Flood Control District study examining flood risks around Cypress Springs and Ella Stormwater Detention Basins and Tributary E116-00-00.
The study will examine ways to reduce flooding and limit future damage to homes and communities.
New funding for Ruidoso and Oklahoma
New Mexico will receive more than $478,000 to develop a high-water warning and alert system for the Village of Ruidoso. The project comes after years of devastating fires and floods that have affected communities in the mountainous region.
The warning system will give residents and officials earlier notice when dangerous high-water conditions develop, which is crucial in an area where intense rainfall can quickly trigger dangerous flooding, particularly in landscapes scarred by wildfires.
FEMA is also providing $408,000 for Oklahoma, which will be utilized to build a safe room in Craig County after the 2024 Catesby Fire.
Residents can use these safe rooms in a more secure location during extreme weather and other emergencies.
Who decides how the mitigation money is spent?
FEMA says it works directly with states on hazard mitigation projects, reflecting the agency’s principle that disaster recovery and mitigation should be state-led and federally supported.
In practice, state and local governments are responsible for identifying risks and proposing projects. FEMA provides federal funding and oversight.
FEMA said the newly announced funding is administered through the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, commonly known as the Stafford Act. The money is separate from the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire compensation process in New Mexico.
That distinction is important. The Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire compensation program was created specifically to compensate people and entities harmed by the 2022 fire and flooding disaster.
The latest FEMA funding is part of the federal disaster recovery and mitigation programs available to states and communities following federally declared disasters.
