Community Development Block Grant – Mitigation
funds, appropriated by Congress and allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, represent a unique and significant opportunity to carry out strategic and
high-impact activities to mitigate disaster risks and reduce future losses,
while simultaneously transforming state and local planning efforts. The following OCD program(s) are funded by CDBG-MIT allocations:
Louisiana Watershed Initiative
In March and August 2016, Louisiana
experienced two historic rain events that produced trillions of gallons of
rainwater. The rising floodwaters reached more than 145,000 homes throughout
the state, leaving behind an estimated $10 billion in damage and resulting in
recovery efforts that will take years to complete.
These devastating events exposed key
weaknesses in Louisiana’s approach to floodplain management and risk-reduction
planning at all levels of government. In response, Gov. John Bel Edwards
charged several state agencies with coordinating their efforts to develop a new
approach to reducing flood risk throughout Louisiana, thus creating the
Louisiana Watershed Initiative.
LWI’s work ranges from the development of
hydraulic and hydrologic models to the development of watershed coalitions in
coordination with parish, state and federal entities. The Initiative has made
significant progress and many findings have emerged that are helping to inform
the state’s shift from mitigating flood risk within jurisdictional boundaries
to an approach that more directly takes into account the flow of water and its
natural boundaries.
For more information, click on the Watershed links
in the right-hand column menu.
