AUSTIN, Texas – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded more than $3 million to the Vidor Independent School District (ISD) and the Orangefield ISD to perform water extractions and to remediate mold following Hurricane Harvey.
Several buildings at Vidor High School, as well as Vidor Middle School, Oak Forest Elementary and the Vidor ISD Administrative Building, were treated after 2 feet of flood water and raw sewage stood in the buildings for five days after the hurricane. The cost of remediation was nearly $1.1 million.
Storage buildings, bathrooms, classrooms, the gymnasium and the band room at the high school and elementary school classrooms in the Orangefield ISD were treated for mold remediation. This included the removal and treatment of contaminated items. The cost was more than $2 million.
The FEMA grants cover 100 percent of the projects’ costs because the school districts completed their emergency work within 30 days of the disaster declaration period.
These grants come from FEMA’s Public Assistance grant program which reimburses communities, schools and other eligible applicants for actions taken in the immediate response to and during recovery from a disaster. Eligible applicants include states, federally recognized tribal governments, U.S. territories, local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations. FEMA’s Public Assistance grant program provides project funding directly to the state for disbursement to the applicants.
For additional information on Hurricane Harvey and Texas recovery, visit the Hurricane Harvey disaster web page at www.fema.gov/disaster/4332, Facebook at www.facebook.com/FEMAHarvey, the FEMA Region 6 Twitter account at www.twitter.com/FEMARegion6 or the Texas Division of Emergency Management website at www.dps.texas.gov/dem/.