Stafford Act § 403(a)(3)(I) permits FEMAto provide essential assistance to reduce immediate threats to life, property, and public health and safety. 44 C.F.R. § 206.201(b) defines emergency work as work done immediately following a disaster to save lives and protect improved property, public health, and safety. To be eligible, emergency protective measures must eliminate or lessen immediate threats to lives, public health or safety, or threats of significant additional damage to improved public or private property through cost effective measures. 44 C.F.R. § 206.225(a)(3), 44 C.F.R. § 206.221(c) and the PA Guide define an immediate threat as the threat of additional damage from an event which can reasonably be expected to occur within five years. Rather than carrying out the approved scope of work to remove debris necessary to eliminate the immediate threat, the Applicant permanently engineered an unimproved river channel to address longstanding issues associated with being located in an alluvial fan.

: Sediment reworking and bank armoring are ineligible for funding as emergency protective measures because the work went beyond that which was required to lessen or eliminate immediate threats to nearby improved property.

Stafford Act § 403(a)(3)(I); § 403(c)(6)(B). 44 CFR § 206.201(b). 44 CFR § 206.221(c). 44 CFR § 206.225(a)(3). Public Assistance Guide, FEMA 322, at 66; 71 (June 2007).