FEMA scraps BRIC program, drying up funds for critical Yuba-Sutter levee project
YUBA COUNTY — Federal funding for critical flood protection in the Yuba-Sutter area was cancelled, and local agencies are scrambling to come up with a solution.
Construction for a project to reinforce part of the levee along the Sutter Bypass — protecting 3,400 people — was expected to start in 2027. But now the project, which is almost six years in the making, has hit a $50 million roadblock.
"It's the worst five miles of that 17-mile levee," said Michael Bessette, executive director of the Sutter Butte Flood Control Agency (SBFCA).
Late last year, Bessette's agency was awarded $50 million to shore up a stretch of the Sutter Bypass East Levee. The money was coming from FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC, program.
"We're at the confluence of several major rivers and we really depend on our levees to keep people safe," said Gary Bradford, Yuba County supervisor.
Now that the BRIC program has been scrapped by FEMA, Bessette's agency has major concerns about how the critical project will be funded.
"We didn't have the funding passed on to SBFCA. That's why they can just cancel it, which is what they seem to be doing right now," he said.
FEMA said in a statement, in part, "The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters."
"Those are very unfortunate and incorrect words for a project like ours. Our project is public safety," Bessette said.
"Preparing local jurisdictions for disasters before they happen is much more cost-effective than waiting until after it happens, then paying for recovery," Bradford said.
Now, the flood control agency and Yuba and Sutter county officials are working to come up with solutions.
"We're greatly concerned. We're working very closely with Congressman Doug LaMalfa's office to see if there's any way to salvage the funding," Bessette said.
A spokesperson from Congressman LaMalfa's office told CBS Sacramento, "he is less concerned about which pot of money is used and more concerned about the levee projects being completed quickly."
"You're always in danger of flooding if you live behind a levee or near a river, so it's about risk reduction. So this project would've further reduced that risk," Bradford said.
The goal is to get the levee in what is a rural area up to 100-year flood protection. Neighboring urban areas, like Yuba City, are at a 200-year protection.
