The state of Louisiana has approved $2.7 million in emergency communications equipment for first responders in Washington and Tangipahoa parishes, allowing the parish governments to access federal Community Development Block Grant funds needed to implement the project.

The funding comes from the Long Term Community Recovery Program, a $700 million pool of federal disaster-recovery money set aside by the Louisiana Recovery Authority and Office of Community Development to help local governments rebuild and implement long-term recovery plans.

Washington Parish will receive $1.3 million for the purchase of 563 new 700 megahertz radios and $778,948 for construction of a new radio tower; Tangipahoa Parish will receive $625,000 for the purchase of 338 new 700 MHz radios. The equipment will allow interoperable communications between first responders both locally and across the state.

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In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Washington and Tangipahoa parishes lost communications for up to several weeks. As a result, all facets of emergency response, including law enforcement, firefighting, emergency medical services, and search and rescue missions, were severely compromised.

Prior to the storm, Louisiana planned to build a statewide, interoperable 700 MHz radio system for first responders. The transition was fast-tracked after Katrina, when the state obtained funding to construct the 700 MHz system in storm-affected areas of south Louisiana. Both Washington and Tangipahoa parishes have decided to utilize the new statewide system instead of investing additional dollars into obsolete communications systems that failed during the hurricane.

In addition to equipping the first responders with 700 MHz interoperable radios, the CDBG funding also will be used to build a 400-foot radio tower in Washington Parish that can communicate statewide, even when phone lines are down.

LRA Executive Director Paul Rainwater said, “We worked hard to make this an eligible project because the purchase of interoperable communications equipment will address a critical failure that occurred during Hurricane Katrina. The inability of first responders to communicate either inside the parish or with outside agencies severely hampered the disaster response. The use of disaster recovery funds to upgrade these parishes to the new 700 MHz system represents a big step forward in protecting the public safety during emergencies.”

Washington Parish President Richard N. Thomas, Jr. said, “Washington Parish is thankful for this assistance from the Louisiana Recovery Authority in the purchase of emergency communications equipment for our first responders. Without a doubt, our first responders would not have had this capability for many years without these federal Community Development Block Grant funds.”

Tangipahoa Parish President Gordon Burgess said, “We feel very fortunate that we are receiving $625,000 for the purchase of 338 new 700 MHz radios. This equipment will be used by our first responders throughout the parish. It will be extremely helpful and we thank the governor and the LRA for allowing this to happen.”

The state’s LTCR program supports implementation of local governments’ long-term recovery plans in the most heavily impacted communities in the state. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved LRA’s request to reallocate $500 million in CDBG dollars to the program, bringing to $700 million the total amount of long-term recovery funding available to the parishes. Funds are distributed among the parishes through the LRA/Office of Community Development according to a formula based on estimated housing and infrastructure damages inflicted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In total, the LRA has allocated $2,386,683 of CDBG funding to Washington Parish for LTCR projects and $2,176,093 to Tangipahoa Parish.