South Boston still hoping to receive relief from FEMA

SOUTH BOSTON, Va. (WSET) — South Boston is still waiting to hear if they'll receive grant money from FEMA. The town applied for a Hazardous Mitigation grantback in 2019. The grant would buy the businesses along the floodplain road in Riverdale and move them elsewhere.

South Boston Town Manager Tom Raab says they’ve been waiting for two years to hear back on the grant. He says he’s been reaching out to the department but gets little information about the process.

"I sent an email about a month ago, and they said it’s still on there," Raab said. "I keep asking 'do we need to reapply?’ I’m sure COVID is part of it.”

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Raab says the money would be a big help to the town. Raab says they’ve had to close the Riverdale area about 11 times in the past three years due to flooding.

He says it's a bit frustrating not knowing much information and not knowing when another storm will put the Riverdale area underwater.

“They won’t really say," he said. "They just say, ‘No, it’s still on the list and we think it will happen,’ but they don’t tell us when.

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A spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management said in a statement:

VDEM is awaiting FEMA to make the final determination of this grant, unfortunately it takes months for each application to go through FEMA's benefit cost analysis review, feasibility review, and environmental review. We hope to hear from FEMA regarding the award of this grant soon, but we do not have any timeframe.

WSET reached out to FEMA and is currently waiting to hear back.