DR-4788-AR | Public Notice 001

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) hereby gives notice to the public of its intent to reimburse eligible applicants for eligible costs to repair and/or replace facilities damaged by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding occurring May 24-27, 2024. This notice applies to the Public Assistance (PA), Individual Assistance (IA) and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) implemented under the authority of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5207.

Under major disaster declaration FEMA-4788-DR-AR, signed by the President on May 30, 2024, amended June 5, 2024, and June 12, 2024, the following counties have been designated eligible for PA: Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Fulton, Madison, Marion, Nevada, Randolph, and Sharp. Additional counties may be designated in the future. 

IA funding has been designated for the following counties: Baxter, Benton, Boone, Fulton, Greene, Madison, Marion, and Randolph. Additional counties may be designated in the future.

All areas in the State of Arkansas are eligible to apply for assistance under the HMGP. 

This public notice concerns activities that may affect historic properties, activities located in or affect wetland areas or the 100-year floodplain, and critical actions within the 500-year floodplain. Such activities may adversely affect the historic property, floodplain, or wetland, or may result in continuing vulnerability to flood damage.

Presidential Executive Orders 11988 and 11990 require that all federal actions in or affecting the floodplain or wetlands be reviewed for opportunities to relocate, and be evaluated for social, economic, historical, environmental, legal and safety considerations. Where there is no opportunity to relocate, FEMA is required to undertake a detailed review to determine what measures can be taken to minimize future damages. The public is invited to participate in the process of identifying alternatives and analyzing their impacts through this notification. 

FEMA has determined that for certain types of facilities there are normally no alternatives to restoration in the floodplain or wetland. These are facilities that meet all of the following criteria: 1) FEMA’s estimate of the cost of repairs is less than 50% of the cost to replace the entire facility, and is less than $100,000; 2) the facility is not located in a floodway; 3) the facility has not sustained major structural damage in a previous Presidentially declared flooding disaster or emergency; and 4) the facility is not critical (e.g., the facility is not a hospital, generating plant, emergency operations center, or a facility that contains dangerous materials). FEMA intends to provide assistance with the restoration of these facilities to their pre-disaster condition, but certain measures to mitigate the effects of future flooding or other hazards may be included in the work. For example, a bridge or culvert restoration may include a larger waterway opening to decrease the risk of future washouts.

For routine activities, this will be the only public notice provided. Other activities and those involving facilities that do not meet the four (4) criteria are required to undergo more detailed review, including study of alternate locations. Subsequent public notices regarding such projects will be published, if necessary, as more specific information becomes available.

In many cases, an applicant may have started facility restoration before federal involvement. Even if the facility must undergo detailed review and analysis of alternate locations, FEMA will fund eligible restoration at the original location if the facility is functionally dependent on its floodplain location (e.g., bridges and flood control facilities), the project facilitates an open space use, or the facility is an integral part of a larger network that is impractical or uneconomical to relocate (e.g. road). In such cases, FEMA must also examine the possible effects of not restoring the facility, minimize floodplain and/or wetland impacts, determine both that an overriding public need for the facility clearly outweighs the Executive Order requirements to avoid the floodplain and/or wetland, and that the site is the only practical alternative. State of Arkansas and local officials will confirm with FEMA that the proposed actions comply with all applicable state and local floodplain management and wetland protection requirements.

FEMA may provide IA program funding for disaster-related housing. These actions may adversely affect a floodplain or wetland or may result in continuing vulnerability to floods. These actions may include repair, restoration, or construction of housing or private bridges, purchase and placement of travel trailers or manufactured housing units (mobile homes), or repair of structures as minimum protective measures. This will be the only public notice concerning these actions. 

FEMA also intends to provide HMGP funding to the State of Arkansas to mitigate future disaster damages. These projects may include construction of new facilities, modification of existing, undamaged facilities, relocation of facilities out of floodplains, demolition of structures, or other types of projects to mitigate future disaster damages. In the course of developing project proposals, subsequent public notices will be published, if necessary, as more specific information becomes available.

Executive Order 14030, Climate-Related Financial Risk (May 20, 2021), reinstated Executive Order 13690 and established a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS) and a process for further soliciting and considering stakeholder input on January 30, 2015. As such, FEMA will be identifying the applicable design standard for project types incorporating either the FFRMS-Freeboard Value Approach or FFRMS-0.2-Percent-Annual-Chance Flood Approach for specific non-critical and critical actions per FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance Policy FP-206-21-0003-0001 and FEMA PA Policy 104-22-0003. The PA FFRMS partial implementation policy applies to PA projects in the 1% (100-year) annual chance floodplain (and to the 1% (100-year) and 0.2% (500-year) annual chance floodplains for critical actions) involving new construction of structures, structures that have a substantial damage determination, or structures that require substantial improvement. The policy applies regardless of the cause of damage. The HMGP FFRMS partial implementation policy applies to projects involving structure elevation, dry floodproofing, and mitigation reconstruction in the 1% (100-year) annual chance floodplain and the 1% (100-year) and 0.2% (500-year) annual chance floodplains for critical actions. For all FEMA programs and project types, if a state, local, tribal, or territorial government has its own higher elevation standard, FEMA requires use of the higher standard. FEMA program policies also reference additional consensus codes and standards, such as ASCE-24-14, which incorporate additional elevation requirements beyond the base flood elevation.

The National Historic Preservation Act requires federal agencies to consider the effects of their undertakings on historic properties. Those actions or activities affecting buildings, structures, districts, or objects 50 years or older, or that affect archeological sites or undisturbed ground will require further review to determine if the property is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). If the property is determined to be eligible for the NRHP, and FEMA’s undertaking will result in an adverse effect, FEMA will provide additional public notices. For historic properties not adversely affected by FEMA’s undertakings, this will be the only public notice.

Presidential Executive Order 12898, Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, directs each federal agency to avoid disproportionate and high adverse human health or environmental effects to low-income and minority populations. FEMA aims to identify low income and minority communities at the onset of a declared event to gain better understanding of how response and recovery efforts, including mitigation, may impact such groups and communities. Additionally, once low income and minority communities have been identified, FEMA aims to minimize any potential adverse impacts related to FEMA response, recovery, and mitigation activities in those communities.

Interested persons may obtain information about these actions or a specific project by writing to La Toya Leger-Taylor, Regional Environmental Officer, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region 6, 800 North Loop 288, Denton, TX 76209 or by emailing FEMA-R6-EHP@fema.dhs.gov. Comments should be sent in writing within 15 days of the date of this notice. 

All other questions regarding disaster assistance should be directed to FEMA’s Helpline at 1-800-621-3362 or visit www.DisasterAssistance.gov.