FMA Swift Current Grant Program

The FMA Swift Current Grant Program is a FEMA disaster grant that is managed by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR). This grant aims to streamline funding through disaster declaration and flood insurance claims-based eligibility criteria, minimized application periods, and narrowed project type eligibility to Individual Flood Mitigation Projects that are Severe Repetitive Loss, Repetitive Loss, or Substantially Damaged.

Key Dates & Times

Application Start Date: February 5, 2025

Application Deadline: July 7, 2025 (applications will be reviewed and awarded as received)

Total Amount Available: $40 million state set aside

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Eligible Project Types: Individual Flood Mitigation Projects

• Acquisition - property is purchased by the local community, the structure is demolished, and the property cannot be developed in perpetuity
• Elevation – property is elevated above the Base Flood Elevation
• Mitigation /Reconstruction – current structure is demolished, and new compliant structure is built; this project type has a federal share limit of $220k.
• Dry Floodproofing - historic residential buildings or non-residential buildings
• Retrofitting - structural and non-structural to existing buildings and facilities

Cost Share Requirements:

NFIP Repetitive Loss Definition (25% cost share): A building that has two or more flood insurance claims of more than $1,000 paid within a 10-year period.

FMA Repetitive Loss Definition (10% cost share): A building that has incurred flood-related damage on two occasions, in which the cost of the repair, on the average, equaled or exceeded 25 percent of the market value of the structure at the time of each such flood event; and at the time of the second incidence of flood-related damage, the contract for flood insurance contains Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage.

FMA & NFIP Severe Repetitive Loss Definition (no cost share): Has incurred flood-related damage for which four or more separate claims payments (includes building and contents) have been made under flood insurance coverage with the amount of each such claim exceeding $5,000, and with the cumulative amount of such claim payments exceeding $20,000, OR

For which at least two separate claims payments (includes only building) have been made under such coverage, with the cumulative amount of such claims exceeding the market value of the insured structure.

Social Vulnerability: Up to 90% federal cost share funding for each NFIP-insured property located within a census tract with a CDC SVI score that is not less than 0.5001, and for which the mitigation activity is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). FEMA will determine the CDC SVI score using the following three SVI themes: Socioeconomic Status, Household Characteristics, and Housing Type and Transportation.

Eligible Buildings*

• Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) properties** - NFIP or FMA definition
• Repetitive Loss (RL)** – NFIP or FMA definition
• Substantially Damaged structures – deemed substantially damaged by the community on or after 08/04/2024; can be cumulative if community has that higher standard

*All structures must be NFIP-insured by the application start date; Group Flood Insurance Policies are eligible

** For more information on determining eligibility, please reach out to Jessica Artz (contact information below)

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Application Process

• Eligible applicants include local governments and communities, state agencies, and federally recognized tribes.
• All applications are completed through FEMA GO https://go.fema.gov. Communities must register with FEMA GO to apply for FMA. Please contact SCDNR for registration instructions.