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Chapter 7 › XIII.H Flood Fighting

Is flood fighting, like sandbagging and pumping, eligible?

FEMA term
Flood fighting
Short answer

Yes, when needed to reduce an immediate threat to life, public health and safety, or improved property, including sandbagging, dewatering behind a levee and raising a levee. It is eligible even at facilities in the Corps’ Rehabilitation and Inspection Program, because the Corps can’t reimburse flood fighting.

What FEMA requires

  • Repairing breaches you deliberately made to dewater is eligible as part of the emergency work project.
  • Dewatering agricultural and natural areas behind levees is not eligible.

Documentation

Records of the threat, the measures taken, and labor, equipment and materials used.

Watch out · Govstar practitioner advice

Photograph water levels and threatened property as you fight the flood. They prove the threat after the water recedes.

Govstar summarizes FEMA’s Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide in plain language and links to the official text. Govstar is independent and not affiliated with FEMA. This is general guidance, not legal advice.