More fed funds for Dixie floods

Sen. Bob Bennett said Tuesday that Washington County will receive an additional $3.2 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help address the damage caused by the floods that devastated the region earlier this year.

Bennett, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture that approves the funding for USDA, said in the news release Tuesday that the $3.2 million will be administered through the Emergency Watershed Protection program, part of the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. The new funds bring to $10 million the total watershed protection money for Washington County and a small portion of Kane County. Utah legislators this past general session set up a special $25 million fund to lend money to local Washington County cities to help pay for destroyed roads, bridges and sewer and water systems.

The funds will pay to restore the environment and for technical assistance in assessing and preventing the threat of natural disasters in the future, USDA Secretary Mike Johanns said in the release.

Emergency watershed protection is set up to remove threats to life and property that remain in the nation's watersheds in the aftermath of natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires.

More information of watershed protection and the recent flood damage in Utah is on the Web at www.ut.nrcs.usda.gov.