MADISON, Wis. – Federal funding will help Jefferson County remove homes from a dozen flood-prone properties, reducing the potential financial impact of future disasters on the community. More than $1.5 million in Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) funds, announced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Wisconsin Emergency Management (WEM), will be used to acquire and demolish 12 properties in Jefferson County.
“Properties that experience chronic flooding put the safety of people at risk and take a tremendous financial toll on residents and their communities,” said Dr. Darrell L. Williams, Wisconsin Emergency Management administrator. “We are confident that this project will help Jefferson County take important steps towards safeguarding against future disasters. We thank FEMA for making this valuable assistance available.”
The properties included in the project are in the Fort Atkinson and Milton areas. Located in the Rock River and Lake Koshkonong floodplains, they will be converted to open space for use by the Jefferson County Parks Department.
“We in Jefferson County believe that failure to plan is planning to fail,” said Steve Nass, chair of the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors. “Without the opportunity to obtain grants like the Pre-Disaster Mitigation grant, we would not have the funding that will allow us to take action to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to people and property from natural hazards and their effects.”
WEM’s Hazard Mitigation section works with communities across Wisconsin to identify important projects such as these, which help to improve the safety of residents by implementing strategies that protect lives and property. More information on these programs is available at https://dma.wi.gov/DMA/wem/mitigation/hazard-mitigation.
