SNOHOMISH COUNTY, APRIL 27: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced late last week that it will provide close to $1.5 million in its Flood Mitigation Assistance Program to communities and organizations in Washington State, providing preemptive accomplishments against future flooding.
Snohomish County is set to receive nearly $300,000 for a countywide flood risk study of infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
The Washington State Department of Ecology also received close to $180,000 to develop strategy regarding flood-risk reduction for frequently flooded areas. Such areas in the North Sound include low lying areas along the Skykomish, Snohomish, Stillaguamish, Skagit, and Nooksack Rivers.
FEMA Denials
FEMA also announced that in a separate funding source, it denied statewide mitigation assistance, noting in a letter to Governor Ferguson, that the assistance was ‘not warranted’. The Governor’s office can appeal this denial within 30 days.
In his original request for federal assistance in the wake of the December flooding, applied for funds from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program or HMGP. The HMGP funds projects to help prevent significant flooding like levees and flood walls. If approved, the state would have qualified for the grant program’s funding up to 20 percent of the state’s total damage assessment that peaked at $36.6 million from the December flooding event.
Response
Reaction from elected federal and local officials was swift. Representative Suzan DelBene noted in a news release that the HMGP funds were initially approved in June 2025, but were stalled by lacking a signature of then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Representative Rick Larsen called the denial an ‘unacceptable decision’. In a statement, he highlight that “disaster declaration helps people recover from the last flood, but hazard mitigation helps survive the next flood.”
Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers said in a news release, “It provides the resources for us to look holistically at flood infrastructure countywide, specifically dikes and levees, so that we can work with partners on identifying and addressing areas of concern.”
In Skagit County, such mitigation grant funding could help the town of Hamilton along the Skagit River, move north of SR 20 and out of the river’s floodplain. The town has been beset by flooding for decades.
FEMA Individual Assistance
Earlier this month, FEMA announced federal assistance became available to Washington State in direct response to the December 2025 flooding disaster. The federal funding resources to assist impacted individuals in 10 Washington counties included Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom, as well as 16 tribal nations in Western Washington including the Lummi Nation, Nooksack Tribe, Samish Nation, Sauk-Suiattle Tribe, Stillaguamish Tribe, Swinomish Tribe, Tulalip Tribes, and the upper Skagit Tribe.
The federal assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans for uninsured property losses, and other programs to assist families and individuals recover from the impacts of the flooding disaster.
For those who sustained losses in the disaster first need to first file claims with their insurance providers. After that, they can then apply for online assistance at www.disasterassistance.gov, use the FEMA App, or call 800-621-3362. A Disaster Assistance Center is open for in-person help in Sumas in Whatcom County, at 125 Front Street.
