Sen. Gary Peters announces $500M for FEMA loan applicants

Upper Peninsula, Mich. (WLUC) - On Tuesday, the Federal Emergency Agency (FEMA) and Senator Gary Peters announced significant funding for communities affected by climate change.

The Safeguarding Tomorrow through Ongoing Risk Mitigation (STORM) Act reserves $500 million in loans that are accessible to communities.

FEMA says the STORM Act was authored by Peters and it could combat the damaging effects of climate change. This would allow communities to invest in road repairs and other critical infrastructure to keep up with weather disasters.

In Upper Michigan, Peters says this money could help protect our lakeshores.

“A variety of things a community could do to mitigate that,” began Peters about how Upper Michigan could use the dollars. “Understand that as water levels are rising or flooding occurs it can cause a great deal of damage. So, how do you build seawalls to protect those areas?”

Peters says shoreline protection could be one avenue. However, he says it may also be used to prepare communities for disasters in other ways.

“It could also be just hardening regular infrastructure, bridges and roads as well,” concluded Peters.

The STORM Act funding revolves, meaning communities pay back what they borrow and it becomes available to loan again.