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Pinellas County awarded $992,000 from statewide grant to develop countywide flood mitigation action

Jan. 26, 2021

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.