Cook County to Receive $13.9 Million to Aid Recovery From Spring Flooding

September 10, 2013 
Cook County residents, businesses and infrastructure to benefit from disaster recovery grants 

Cook County will receive $13.9 million dollars to support local recovery efforts following the spring’s powerful storms and flooding. The grants are provided through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program, which is designed to support long-term disaster recovery. 

“Last spring’s storms ravaged Cook County homes and businesses, creating needs that stretched beyond the limits of private insurance and other relief efforts,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said. “This federal aid will help Cook County residents and business owners rebuild and recover.” 

HUD’s CDBG Disaster Recovery grants are intended to confront housing, business and infrastructure needs beyond those addressed by other forms of public and private assistance. Using a combination of data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration, HUD identified those states and local governments requiring the greatest assistance to recover from natural disasters or incidents. 

“This program will help Cook County communities tackle serious challenges. Even though the storms are over and the floodwaters have receded, the damage has not disappeared,” said Michael Masters, Cook County’s Executive Director of the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. “This investment will allow our community to recover and prepare more effectively for future weather events.” 

The Cook County Bureau of Economic Development expects to receive spending guidelines from HUD within the next 60 days. 

“This CDBG Disaster Recovery grant is an important supplement to the funding that helped us start to address issues created by the storms last spring,” said Herman Brewer, Bureau Chief for Cook County’s Bureau of Economic Development. “We are pulling together an interdepartmental team of Cook County staff to make sure we maximize the impact of these dollars and we will work closely with external partners on this continuing recovery effort.” 

Other grantees include the City of Chicago, DuPage County and the State of Illinois. The City of Chicago will receive $4.3 million; DuPage County will receive $7 million; and the State of Illinois will receive $3.6 million.

The Cook County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management integrates first responders, their departments and resources from 134 Cook County municipalities, and serves as the central agency in Cook County for coordinating efforts to prevent, protect against, mitigate the effects of, respond to, and recover from all incidents, whether man-made or natural. For more information, visit our website at www.cookcountyhomelandsecurity.org.