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Emergency Relief Program

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DISASTER FIRST STEPS (for funding assistance to local agencies)

  1. Immediately Contact your local CalOES representative to report damages (CalOES Rep)
  2. Report federal on-system roadway disaster damage to Caltrans (IDE Form)

Hot Topics/New News

  • New Potential ER Disasters
  • Latest ER Disasters
    • CA 25-2 January 2025 Wildfires
      • Governor’s State of Emergency Proclamation for Los Angeles and Ventura issued on 1/7/25
      • Presidential Declaration announced on 1/8/25 for California Wildfires and Straight-line Winds in Los Angeles County
        • FEMA (DR-4856) now covering debris removal for the incident period starting on 1/7/25 in Los Angeles County
        • Reminder that debris removal is not eligible for reimbursement through the ER program when it is covered by FEMA
      • Finding of Eligibility received from FHWA on 1/23/25
        • DAF deadline is 4/30/25
        • The Palisades, Eaton, and Hughes Fires in Los Angeles County have met the $700,000 damage requirement in 23 CFR 668.105(j).
        • Local agencies should identify officially designated public detours or debris hauling routes and document the pre-disaster condition of these roads now so that a comparison with the “post-detour” roadway condition can be made afterward. This will give the agency the option of potentially getting reimbursed for some of the detour or haul roadway damage caused by heavy vehicular and truck usage of the road(s). A video of the roadway condition is suggested as one way to document the damage. FHWA’s ER manual Chapter II section B has more information on the eligibility of detours and traffic damage.
  • Quick Release (QR) Funds
    • No QR funds currently available
  • Did You Realize…
    • The DAF deadlines, disaster begin dates, and the EO 100% reimbursement end date for each disaster is on this ER web site. See the Disaster Information link (bullet in Emergency Relief Program Websites side menu), then click on the ER Project Disaster Information link.
    • You can find disaster Proclamations and other official, ER related documents on this ER web site. Check out the Disaster Declarations link in the Emergency Relief Program Websites side bar, then scroll to the second table on the page (below the Disaster Proclaimed Events and Locations table).

The Program

The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Emergency Relief (ER) Program was authorized by Congress to repair or reconstruct federal-aid routes that have suffered serious damage as a direct result of a declared event (see Title 23, United States Code, Section 125). The program is available to State and Local Agency transportation departments with roads suffering serious damage from natural disasters or catastrophic failures from external causes. ER funding is intended to supplement resources from States, localities and other Federal agencies to help in the repair of facilities damaged by eligible events.

Important Note

Local agencies reporting disaster damage information must report their damages to both CalOES and Caltrans, separately. CalOES and Caltrans separately administer different disaster relief funding programs, with very different requirements. For this reason, local agencies will need to make sure they are sharing all their disaster damage information separately, with both CalOES and Caltrans. Local agencies should not assume the information shared with Caltrans will be shared with CalOES. If the local agency is unsure of who their CalOES contact is they should call their CalOES region to find out. CalOES regional contact information can be obtained on the web at: Regional Operations.

For project specific and call for projects questions, please contact your:

For general program questions you may contact:

Daniel Karavan (Districts 1,2,3)

Dalton LaBoskey (Districts 4,8,9)

Anmol Mishra (Districts 5,6,10)

Jasdeep Sandhu (Districts 7,11,12)

For Final Voucher or Statement of Final Cost Inquireries to CalOES:

Dennis.Huitt@Caloes.ca.gov

Disasterrecovery@Caloes.Ca.gov

Please feel free to send comments regarding this web site to the DLA Webmaster.


Emergency Relief Program Websites