Federal grants for flood work sat on hold as storms inundated Washington state

The federal funding for the state that has been held up under the Trump administration might not have made an immediate difference during this month’s storms, given the work’s long timeframe, but the point is to protect communities from future deluges, Washington officials say.

“This event — and the one coming whenever in the future — reinforces the importance of investing in the pre-disaster mitigation efforts to reduce damages. If folks on the ground weren’t believers before about the need to do pre-disaster mitigation, they certainly are now,” Cook said. He added that every dollar invested in such programs saves six, according to the National Institute of Building Sciences.

In response to a request for comment, a White House official referred NBC News to the Department of Homeland Security.

A DHS spokesperson said in a statement that it is “committed to ensuring FEMA delivers for the American people.”

“To ensure every recovery dollar is used as effectively as possible, Secretary Noem directed that grant and contract award expenditures be reviewed and approved before funds are obligated,” the statement said.

The Trump administration announced in April that it planned to end a FEMA program that supports state and local resilience projects across the country.

“FEMA is ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program,” the agency said in a news release that is no longer available on its website, calling the program “wasteful” and “politicized.”

Washington and more than 20 other states sued to challenge the move. The states won a summary judgement last week, but the money has not been delivered.

DHS argued in court that it had not canceled the BRIC program, but the judge disagreed. The department made the same claim in its statement to NBC News.

“DHS has not terminated BRIC. Any suggestion to the contrary is a lie,” it said.

While this legal battle has played out, projects that would have moved forward have been on hold.