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Highlight: EDA Disaster Supplemental Appropriations

Since 2008, EDA has obligated a combined $500 million under the Supplemental Appropriations Disaster Relief and Second Supplemental Appropriations Disaster Relief Opportunities.

The $100 million and $400 million respective Disaster Appropriations were distributed to provide post-disaster economic recovery assistance to areas which a major disaster or emergency was declared.

Such assistance includes a $35 million grant to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to construct a new events center and arena in the downtown area that was devastated by the Midwest floods in 2008.

In Batesville, Arkansas, EDA invested $1.8 million to renovate a former machining facility in Batesville to convert the facility into a manufacturing plant, where job creation was vital to recover from severe storms in 2008.

The Town of Madawaska, Maine suffered damages from the May 2008 flooding of the St. John River. EDA invested $2 million to improve the town's wastewater system and prevent future flooding.

After being hit by Tropical Storm Fay in 2008, EDA invested $8.2 million in Gainesville, Florida for the construction of the Florida Innovation Hub, a technology incubator located near the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville to serve the region's emerging and existing technology commercialization start-up companies.

On the west coast, regions have struggled with recovering after devastating wildfires. EDA invested $7.2 million in Anaheim, California to construct pedestrian walkways to link sites at a new hospital complex, aiding in the redevelopment of local industrial areas and creation of opportunities for new business development.

Not a stranger to natural disasters, the state of Wisconsin has been challenged with flooding in recent years. To spur high-skill, high-wage job creation, EDA invested $4.5 million in Madison, Wisconsin to advance biotechnology through the construction of a greenhouse for the Midwest BioLink Commercialization and Business Center to grow new businesses in urban and rural communities in the region.