KANSAS CITY, MO – September 28, 2026 (STL.News) The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved more than $434,000 for Missouri to help administer hazard-mitigation work related to previous disasters, as part of a nearly $29 million package of disaster funding announced for Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.
The Missouri funding is particularly significant for the St. Louis region, which has endured multiple federally declared disasters in recent years, including the historic July 2022 flash flooding and the destructive May 16, 2025 tornado in St. Louis.
FEMA announced that nearly $29 million in new funding approvals across its four-state Region 7 includes more than $28 million through the agency’s Public Assistance program and more than $547,000 through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.
Of the mitigation funding, FEMA is awarding more than $434,000 to Missouri for management costs associated with disaster declarations from 2022 and 2025.
The distinction matters: FEMA described the $434,000 as management-cost funding, not a new $434,000 construction grant for St. Louis or direct financial assistance to homeowners.
FEMA’s announcement did not provide a Missouri-specific breakdown showing how much, if any, of the separately announced $28 million-plus in Public Assistance awards is going to Missouri. It listed Public Assistance projects in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska as examples but did not identify a Missouri project in that portion of the announcement.
Missouri funding follows years of disasters
Missouri’s latest funding comes against a backdrop of repeated severe-weather disasters.
Missouri’s State Emergency Management Agency lists numerous federal major disaster declarations since 2022, including four separate declarations stemming from severe weather in spring 2025.
One of the most consequential recent disasters for the St. Louis area occurred July 25-28, 2022, when severe storms produced historic flash flooding.
The federal government issued Major Disaster Declaration DR-4665-MO on Aug. 8, 2022.
Under that declaration, FEMA designated St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and St. Charles County for Individual Assistance. FEMA designated St. Louis City and St. Louis, St. Charles, and Montgomery counties for Public Assistance.
The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program made assistance available statewide.
The scale of that disaster extended well beyond the initial response.
By Oct. 13, 2022, more than $101.2 million in combined federal and state assistance had been approved for residents affected by the flooding in St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County.
That total included $38.2 million in FEMA assistance for individuals and households, $28.3 million in U.S. Small Business Administration disaster loans and $34.7 million paid through National Flood Insurance Program claims.
St. Louis has continued working on longer-term flood recovery and prevention.
In January 2025, the city’s Community Development Administration said its disaster-recovery action plan directed $25.8 million in federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding to address flood risks associated with the 2022 disaster and improve long-term resilience.
The city noted that St. Louis received more rainfall on July 26, 2022, than on any other day in its recorded history.
Flood recovery projects continue in St. Louis
The long timeline between a disaster and final recovery funding is illustrated by work that continued years after the 2022 flood.
In February 2025, St. Louis published notice of a FEMA Public Assistance project involving the city’s Street Department facility at 1900 Hampton Avenue.
Flood damage affected portions of the building and its contents.
The proposed work went beyond simply replacing damaged materials. Mitigation measures included raising electrical outlets, elevating HVAC equipment and other electrical infrastructure, and replacing some wood interior framing with metal.
The objective was to restore the facility while reducing its vulnerability to another flood.
That project shows how FEMA’s disaster programs can overlap: Public Assistance can pay eligible costs to restore damaged public facilities, while mitigation measures can be incorporated to reduce the risk of similar losses in the future.
2025 tornado created another St. Louis disaster
Less than three years after the record flooding, another major disaster struck St. Louis.
An EF-3 tornado tore through the city on May 16, 2025, damaging thousands of homes and other structures and killing five people, according to Missouri emergency-management records.
The damage prompted a major federal, state, and local recovery operation.
SEMA and FEMA teams assessed damage to homes, public buildings, and infrastructure after the tornado.
On June 9, 2025, the federal government issued Major Disaster Declaration DR-4877-MO for the May 16 severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding.
The disaster declaration included St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and Scott County for Public Assistance.
The individual-assistance response was substantial.
FEMA’s disaster data show approximately $43.6 million was eventually approved through the Individual Assistance and Households Program under DR-4877, including roughly $24.7 million in housing assistance and $18.9 million for other needs.
FEMA approved more than 8,800 Individual Assistance applications.
Those figures are separate from more than $434,000 in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program management funding FEMA announced.
St. Louis recovery remains underway
Recovery from the May 2025 tornado has continued well into 2026.
The City of St. Louis says hundreds of damaged properties have been considered for demolition or other recovery work.
Missouri also established a state-funded program to address properties that do not qualify for FEMA-funded demolition. The city said in May that more than 120 tornado-damaged properties had been approved for demolition using funding provided through Missouri Senate Bill 1.
The state program was necessary in part because FEMA’s private-property debris removal rules do not cover every damaged property. According to the city, properties that were already vacant or condemned before the tornado can fall outside normal FEMA eligibility.
Missouri allocated $10 million directly to St. Louis for that demolition initiative.
The city has said that work is proceeding alongside federally supported private-property debris removal and other city recovery programs.
What FEMA’s new Missouri money actually does
FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program aims to reduce or eliminate long-term risks to people and property after disasters.
Eligible mitigation activities can include acquiring flood-prone properties, elevating structures, improving drainage, building safe rooms, and improving utilities and infrastructure.
The more than $434,000 announced for Missouri, however, is specifically identified as management costs associated with disaster declarations from 2022 and 2025.
Management costs are administrative expenses associated with administering hazard-mitigation grants, not the underlying construction or property-acquisition costs.
FEMA guidance requires recipients to account for and reconcile management costs against actual expenses while administering Hazard Mitigation Grant Program awards.
That administrative infrastructure can support much larger mitigation programs, but the $434,000 should not be interpreted as $434,000 being distributed directly to disaster survivors.
Nearly $29 million approved across four states
Most of the funding FEMA announced is going toward Public Assistance projects across the four-state region.
Public Assistance is primarily a reimbursement program for state, local, and tribal governments and certain eligible nonprofit organizations. It can cover debris removal, emergency protective measures, and restoration of disaster-damaged public infrastructure.
FEMA generally provides Public Assistance at a federal cost share of at least 75% of eligible expenses.
Among the largest projects disclosed in the new regional announcement is more than $10 million for Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, for permanent repairs to historic King Chapel.
The chapel suffered extensive damage during the August 2020 derecho. Cornell College says the building has been under reconstruction because of damage from the storm’s hurricane-force winds.
FEMA is also providing $4 million to the Kansas Adjutant General’s Department, Division of Emergency Management, for state costs associated with DR-4449-KS.
Another more than $3.8 million is going to the City of Rock Valley, Iowa, for permanent repairs to maintenance and storage buildings.
The Omaha Public Power District in Nebraska is receiving nearly $1.5 million for permanent repairs to transmission-system lines.
Separately, the mitigation portion includes nearly $114,000 for the City of Cherokee, Iowa, to acquire a flood-prone property.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office separately announced on Sept. 25 that FEMA had approved more than $18.2 million for projects benefiting Iowa communities, including $10,146,128.22 for permanent repairs to Cornell College’s King Chapel.
Disaster recovery can continue for years
The latest awards illustrate a part of federal disaster assistance that can be less visible than the emergency response immediately following a tornado, flood, or severe storm.
Local governments and other eligible organizations can incur substantial costs immediately after a disaster and then work through FEMA’s documentation, eligibility, and reimbursement process over an extended period.
FEMA says Public Assistance recipients must manage obligated funds and distribute them to eligible applicants, while the agency monitors projects for compliance with federal requirements.
Missouri’s experience after the 2022 St. Louis floods shows how long that process can take. Recovery and mitigation projects associated with that disaster were still moving through federal and local processes in 2025.
The May 2025 St. Louis tornado has created another long-term recovery effort that remains underway more than a year later.
FEMA characterized the latest nearly $29 million package as part of its broader effort to make disaster recovery state-led and federally supported.
For Missouri, the newly announced $434,000-plus does not represent the total amount of federal assistance associated with the state’s recent disasters. Instead, it represents another piece of a much larger, ongoing federal, state, and local recovery and mitigation effort following disasters that have repeatedly affected Missouri—and particularly the St. Louis region—since 2022.
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