PLEASE CONTACT US REGARDING NOTICES OF INTENT FOR THE FLOOD MITIGATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

Is your community interested in obtaining grant funds to elevate, remove, relocate, or otherwise protect homes, businesses, and neighborhoods that are below base flood elevation, at risk of flooding, or have flooded before? Is your community considering creation of flood storage through detention/retention facilities, flood control plans, or innovative best management practices?

If so, ANRD is providing funds to support these efforts through FEMA's Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) Program.

FEMA has announced the opening of the FY2023 Application Period for the FMA program. ANRD is soliciting towns, cities, and counties to prepare and submit Notice of Intent (NOI) forms for the FMA grant program. This form must be completed and submitted to ANRD to determine the applicability of a potential mitigation project for FMA. Please contact Mike Harris, Arkansas Flood Mitigation Assistance Program Coordinator, at michal.harris@agriculture.arkansas.gov or 501-682-3907 for a copy of the NOI.  

All NOIs must be submitted to ANRD on or before December 30^th, 2023, by 5:00 PM. Only complete NOIs will be accepted and reviewed.

ANRD strongly encourages interested applicants to review the FY2023 NFO. It can be found here: FMA NOFO FY2023. Additional detailed information regarding the FMA program can also be found at:

• https://www.fema.gov/grants/mitigation/floods,
• https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_hma-fma-nofo-fact-sheet_fy23.pdf
• https://www.agriculture.arkansas.gov/natural-resources/divisions/water-management/floodplain-management/fma/

What Types of Projects are Supported?

FMA funds may be used for projects that reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flood damage to buildings insured by the National Flood Insurance Program. 

Community Flood Mitigation Projects are local level drainage/flood control projects to improve drainage and reduce flood risk for communities and can include numerous activities such as drainage pipes, pump stations, topographic grading, seawalls, marsh restoration, and other nature-based solutions.

Individual Structure/Property-Level Flood Mitigation Projects are those that mitigate the risk of flooding to individual NFIP-insured structures and give priority to properties meeting Severe Repetitive Loss and Repetitive Loss definitions. These project types include Acquisition, Acquisition Relocation, Relocation, Elevation, Mitigation Reconstruction, and Dry Floodproofing of historic or commercial structures.

Project Scoping Activities are designed to develop mitigation strategies and obtain data to prioritize, select, and develop complete applications in a timely manner that result in either an improvement in the capability to identify appropriate mitigation projects or in the development of an application-ready mitigation project for FMA or another funding source.

Flood Mitigation Planning Activities for the flood hazard component of states, local communities, tribes and territories hazard mitigation plans and updates to plans are limited to $100,000 per applicant for flood hazard mitigation planning with maximums of $50,000 for state flood hazard mitigation planning and $25,000 for local flood hazard mitigation planning.

Who May Apply?

PLEASE CONTACT NRD IF YOU WOULD LIKE A FILLABLE PDF VERSION OF THE NOI.

Local governments, including cities, towns, counties, special district governments, and state agencies are considered eligible and must first submit a NOI to ANRD to be considered for participation in the grant program. All applicants for FMA must be participating in the NFIP, and not be withdrawn or suspended, to be eligible to apply for grant fund.

Applicants must have a FEMA-approved Hazard Mitigation Plan by January 26th, 2024, and at the time of obligation of grant funds for mitigation projects (with the exception of mitigation planning).

Homeowners, business operators, and non-profit organizations cannot apply directly to ANRD, but can be included in an application submitted by a town, city, county, or state agency. For more information please contact your local government or ANRD.

Application Process

Applicants interested in applying for FMA grants must first submit a NOI. ANRD is accepting NOIs through December 30th, 2023.

ANRD can only accept NOIs from counties, towns, or state agencies. After review by ANRD, approved local communities will be asked to submit full proposals which will be submitted to FEMA for final approval. This is a competitive process and applicants could be required to submit multiple times. 

If you are an interested in learning more about FMA, please contact Mike Harris, Program Coordinator, via email at michal.harris@agriculture.arkansas.gov