More than five years after tornadoes devastated the southeast and resulted in four federal disaster declarations in five days, hard-hit communities are building back stronger.
To date, assistance to residents and communities in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee from the Federal Emergency Management Agency totals more than $504 million.
“The success of community recovery comes through strong partnerships at the local, state and federal levels,” said Gracia Szczech, FEMA’s Region IV regional administrator. “Together we have focused on rebuilding communities that are stronger and more sustainable for the future.”
Here’s a look at how Alabamians were assisted by FEMA following the April 27, 2011, tornado outbreak:
• To date, assistance to Alabama’s residents and communities from the Federal Emergency Management Agency totals more than $361 million;
• In Alabama, 88,229 individuals and families received $77,332,325 in Individual Assistance grants. More than $70 million was provided within a year of the storms, giving residents a helping hand in rebuilding their lives and restoring livelihoods;
• The state and FEMA provided $343,990 in Disaster Unemployment Assistance to 333 survivors who lost jobs as a result of the tornadoes;
• FEMA provided $4,810,399 to fund crisis counseling programs to help adults and children deal with the trauma and stress of surviving and recovering from the tornadoes; and
• Through collaborative efforts, FEMA and the state of Alabama provided temporary housing units to 307 families.
More than $202 million has been obligated as federal share reimbursements through FEMA’s Public Assistance program to state and local governments, and eligible private nonprofit organizations; and more than $1.36 million was obligated as part of these Public Assistance projects to build stronger, safer, more resilient communities and mitigate against future damage. To date, nearly 96 percent of the projected repair and replacement costs under the Public Assistance program have been disbursed to the state.
Some 4,492 residential and community tornado safe rooms have been approved to be built with $76.8 million obligated through FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant program. Mitigation forms the foundation of a community’s long-term strategy to reduce disaster losses and break the cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction and repeated damage.
The U.S. Small Business Administration provided $114,494,500 in low-interest disaster recovery loans to help businesses of all sizes, homeowners and renters in Alabama rebuild.
The News Courier
