Pinellas County awarded $992K grant to develop countywide flood mitigation action plan

Pinellas County will receive $992,000 to fund the creation of a countywide flood mitigation action plan, awarded by the state of Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO).

Pinellas County plans to use the funding to cover costs of ongoing work to assess and reduce the county’s vulnerability to flooding. This work will use advanced data and tools to analyze potential exposure of community assets and create strategies for mitigation. It will also recommend actions for community planning and outreach.

“We are very pleased to receive this federal funding from the state, which will have a significant impact on our efforts to make the county more resilient to flooding,” said Pinellas County Sustainability and Resiliency Coordinator Hank Hodde. “As one of Florida’s most vulnerable counties, with water on three sides, it’s critical that we continue to make progress in these efforts.”

Four other Tampa Bay area municipalities and organizations also received funding as part of the state grant, which was announced January 8 by Gov. Ron DeSantis:

• City of St. Petersburg ($900,626) – to develop a comprehensive seawall mitigation strategy to address sea level rise.
• City of Tampa ($500,000) – to develop a coastal resiliency action plan to evaluate state, local, and regional requirements.
• Pasco County ($754,870) – to develop a vulnerability assessment to identify at-risk and critical infrastructure subject to natural disasters and provide adaptive and mitigation strategies.
• Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council – The TBRPC is one of six regional planning councils around the state, led by the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, that will receive $1,499,000 to develop a statewide approach to flood planning that will provide a regional framework to models and planning efforts.

“Mitigating the impacts of flooding is extremely important for Pinellas County and the entire Tampa Bay area, and this funding is a significant boost to the area’s efforts,” said Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long, who is Chair of the Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition, a group of 31 area governments and more than 90 private sector partners that are working together to increase community resilience.

The funds are being made available through the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s Rebuild Florida General Planning Support Program. The program, administered by the DEO, provides funding for communities and organizations to develop or enhance state, regional, or local plans that will enable the state of Florida to withstand future disasters.

The funds are allocated through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant – Mitigation program formed in response to the 2016-17 presidentially declared disasters.

“The resiliency of the state of Florida remains a top priority for my administration as we approach the two-year anniversary of my executive order to achieve more now for Florida’s environment,” said Gov. DeSantis. “I’m pleased to build on our environmental achievements with this first-of-its-kind, mitigation program that will provide Florida’s communities the opportunity to become more resilient to future storms.”

Through Rebuild Florida, local governments and municipalities have access to resources necessary to bolster their community’s resiliency to future disasters.

DEO is the governor-designated state authority responsible for administering all U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) long-term recovery funds awarded to the state. Rebuild Florida uses federal funding for Florida’s long-term recovery efforts from the devastating impacts of natural disasters. For more information, visit RebuildFlorida.gov.