The Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) is awarding more than $7.7 million in federal disaster recovery assistance through the agency’s Infrastructure Match Program. The funding will help minimize the financial hardship in carrying out two infrastructure projects that address long-term flood recovery and mitigate against future disasters.
- Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District (NRD) is being awarded $7.15 million to restore the Platte River water flow to near pre-disaster conditions by removing sand, rock and silt from the river at Highway 75 near La Platte. The naturally occurring sandbar’s growth was accelerated due to a bridge washout during the 2019 flood. The removal of the sandbar will reduce the stress placed upon the bridge pilings, and provide increased flood resiliency for future disasters.
- The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is being awarded $589,500 for a project at Dead Timber State Recreation Area (SRA) north of Scribner. The 2019 flood disaster ravaged Dead Timber SRA, impacting roads, primitive camping sites, and a picnic shelter. The project will relocate the primitive camping sites and shelter out of the floodplain.
DED has now issued three rounds of awards through the Infrastructure Match Program. Altogether, these awards are supporting 238 projects to address unmet infrastructure needs identified following the 2019 flood disaster (DR-4420).
In July 2021, DED entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to administer a $108.9 million Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) allocation for DR-4420. As a recipient of these federal funds, DED is required to expend 80% of the allocation in the areas of the state that HUD identified as “most-impacted and distressed” (HUD-MID), which includes the counties of Dodge, Douglas, and Sarpy. Additionally, 70% must benefit low- and moderate-income (LMI) residents. For additional details about the allocation, method of distribution, and funding opportunities, please consult the CDBG-DR Action Plan. CDBG-DR, while similar to the annual CDBG program DED also administers, is subject to additional requirements that are detailed in DED’s CDBG-DR program materials.
In response to the devasting floods of 2019, DED established the CDBG-DR Infrastructure Match Program to support local jurisdictions in their long-term flood recovery needs. Initially, the CDBG-DR Infrastructure Match Program made available the local share portion for eligible FEMA Public Assistance (PA) and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) projects awarded under DR-4420. In late 2023, informed by outreach to jurisdictions in the HUD-MID areas, DED’s Disaster Recovery Division sought to broaden the Infrastructure Match Program to include key infrastructure projects not funded by FEMA assistance. In early 2024, HUD allowed DED to expand program eligibility. All projects must have a “tie-back” to damages sustained as a result of DR-4420.
With a priority to the HUD-MID area and LMI requirements, the Infrastructure Match Program assists public entities, state and local non-profit organizations, and other eligible entities by leveraging CDBG-DR funds in coordination with other resources to support disaster recovery efforts. The amount of CDBG-DR funds awarded through the Infrastructure Match Program is subject to change based on actual project costs and, where applicable, FEMA’s contribution. All project costs, inclusive of CDBG-DR, are subject to cost reasonableness and validation.
| CDBG-DR Non-FEMA Flood Mitigation Projects – May 2024 Awards | ||
| Applicant | Project Name | CDBG-DR Award |
| Papio-Missouri River NRD | Platte River Sandbar Obstruction | $7,150,830.39 |
| Nebraska Game and Parks Commission | Dead Timber State Recreation Area | $589,500.00 |
Nebraska’s CDBG-DR programs are administered by the DED Disaster Recovery Division. For more information about CDBG-DR programs, including details about the HUD-MID area and program priorities, visit the DED’s CDBG-DR website. If you have general questions about the CDBG-DR program, please direct them to ded.cdbgdr@nebraska.gov.
Individuals who are hearing and/or speech impaired and have a TTY may contact the Department through the Statewide Relay System by calling (711) INSTATE, (800) 833-7352 (TTY), or (800) 833-0920 (voice). The relay operator should be asked to call DED at (800) 426-6505 or (402) 471-3111. Additional information is available on the Nebraska Relay website at http://www.nebraskarelay.com/. Nebraska Relay offers Spanish relay service for our Spanish-speaking customers. Spanish-to-Spanish (711) or 1-888-272-5528; Spanish-to-English (711) or 1-877-564-3503. Nebraska le ofrece el servicio de relevo a nuestros clientes en español. Los consumidores de TTY pueden escribir por máquina en español y las conversaciones serán retransmitidas en español y inglés.