FEMA leader to visit Savannah, laud $30M grant to ease flooding in Black neighborhoods

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell and other national, state and local officials will visit Savannah April 23 to celebrate $30 million in federal funding to address drainage issues around the Springfield Canal that have long impacted the historic Carver Village and Cloverdale neighborhoods.

The grant represents one of the largest Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) awards through the Justice40 Initiative, a program introduced in 2022 by President Joe Biden to advance environmental justice and spur economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved and overburdened by pollution.

The project will direct stormwater runoff from flood-prone areas to the canal, which runs south and east of Cloverdale and east of Carver Village,

The historically Black neighborhoods, created in the middle of the 20th century, are in an area where the city is driving redevelopment efforts including Enmarket Arena, repurposing the historic Water Works building and creating Canal Park.

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Enmarket Arena will host a gathering of leaders expected to include FEMA’s Criswell, Mayor Van Johnson, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Director and Senior Adviser to President Biden Tom Perez, Georgia Emergency Management Agency Director James Stallings, City Manager Jay Melder and District 1 Alderwoman Bernetta Lanier.

“We have done a lot over the years to address historic flooding around the Springfield Canal but with this federal assistance we will be able to initiate mitigation of flooding issues that will benefit these neighborhoods and the entire westside of Savannah for generations to come,” Johnson said when the grant was announced in December.

Carver Village, designated as a National Register Historic District in 2019, was established in 1948 as affordable housing for Black residents. The community was named for George Washington Carver, the famous 20th century agriculturalist, scientist and inventor.

The district includes more than 500 houses, churches, buildings and sites, and is bordered by West Gwinnett Street to the north, Blun Avenue to the south, Endly Street and Collat Avenue to the west, and Allen Avenue to the east.

Cloverdale, also dating to the 1940s, is bordered by Eleanor Street to the north, east and west, with Cloverdale Drive cutting through the heart of the community.

The two neighborhoods are divided by Interstate 16.

John Deem covers climate change and the environment in coastal Georgia. He can be reached at jdeem@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: FEMA administrator to celebrate $30 million Savannah grant in visit