The latest in a series of grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide $68 million to New Orleans for street repairs.
The funding is a result of reassessing damages to neighborhood streets from flooding during and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The streets suffered damage from the flooding and heavy equipment used in recovery efforts.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu said the city continues to work with FEMA to ensure additional funds will be received through fair damage assessments.
The additional funding is needed for local critical infrastructure needs, he said.
“This new funding will not solve all of our street and water problems, but it will go a long way helping resurface certain streets in some of our most impacted neighborhoods,” Landrieu said.
The latest series of FEMA street-repair grants began with a $45 million reimbursement in August 2011, followed by grants of $52 million in December and $14 million in January.
Landrieu said since he came into office in May 2010, FEMA has agreed to $400 million of additional reimbursements for hurricane damage to city infrastructure and the Sewerage and Water Board’s utility system.
The New Orleans Public Library system will open four libraries over the next 30 days to replace hurricane-damaged facilities.
The $25 million cost of the effort was financed by disaster recovery funds, including community development block grants and FEMA reimbursements.
