Daviess County Fiscal Court was recently awarded a $75,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This grant money will be used to conduct a pilot program addressing potential infrastructure collapses that could occur in the event of natural, technological or man-made disasters.
Fiscal Court announced they would apply for the grant in June, and Judge-Executive Al Mattingly said then that FEMA will create a strategic model at the local level through this pilot program. Once that model is complete, it can be integrated into hazard mitigation.
The funds from the FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant are allocated for the Green River Area Development District (GRADD) through Fiscal Court.
“GRADD is actually one of maybe two or three areas in the Commonwealth that is looking at how to put in place programs that will mitigate the effect of a disaster,” Mattingly said. “They will mitigate the next ice storm, or the next flood, or the next tornado, so it’s pretty cool.”
A model based on local infrastructure would provide a layout that could be used in Daviess County during a potential real-time emergency.
The pilot program will take around 888 days to complete.
“The power grid affects the water supply, the natural gas supply and the network,” GRADD Hazard Mitigation Plan Director Blake Edge said in June. “What we’re doing with this pilot project is, really, just trying to establish a program that would grow out to the federal level.”
