Mayors Along Mississippi Ask Congress To Fund Disaster Damage Prevention

Mayors from Wisconsin and other states bordering the Mississippi River were in Washington, D.C., this week asking for funds to prevent damage from future natural disasters.

Mayors forming the privately funded Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative have been meeting for about two years. Securing more funding for the locks and dams, fighting Asian carp, and improving water quality have always been important to the group. This year, mayors are also looking at disaster preparation.

From the headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico, the mayors are seeing more natural disasters like flooding, drought, and hurricanes. Some of the mayors say that the federal government has money to deal with disasters, but the group wants to see more funds go to preparing communities for these kinds of events.

The mayors are urging Congress to support $400 million in pre-disaster mitigation funds that are included in President Barack Obama’s proposed budget.

La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat says the investment can save money in the long run.

“In a perfect world, you’d be spending the resources on the front end, trying to either get properties out of the flood plain or to do the mitigation to prevent the catastrophic floods,” he said. “You’re always going to spend more resources on a catastrophe reacting to the problem than you do if you can prevent it up front.”

The mayors say although they’re making progress in bringing attention to the Mississippi River, it’s still a challenge to get lawmakers to see the value of the river.