Chicago area gets $128 million in flood funds

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD) has awarded $128.3 million in funding to communities in the Chicago area for recovery efforts following severe storms and flooding that began on April 18, 2013, it was announced Friday.

Cook County will receive $54.9 million; Chicago, $47.7 million; DuPage County, $18.9 million; and the state, $6.8 million.

The approval of the funding from the HUD Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program was announced in a news release from Sen. Dick Durbin, Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

This funding was made available through the FY2013 Sandy Supplemental Appropriations Bill, passed by Congress last year.

"Last April's severe storms caused some of the worst flooding that I have ever seen in the Chicago area and surrounding counties, and forced hundreds of families to leave their homes," Durbin said in the release.

The HUD funding is intended to address housing, business and infrastructure needs that have not been met by other forms of public and private assistance, including disaster recovery funding provided through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA).

For more information on the program, visit CDBG Disaster Recovery Assistance.