FEMA Disaster Recovery & Mitigation Projects Scraper (Public Assistance + HMGP/BRIC)

Get project-level FEMA disaster rebuild and hazard-mitigation projects as clean rows: who the public applicant is, what is being repaired or built, where, how much money is obligated, and - for mitigation - which projects are still pending or just submitted to FEMA and haven't gone out to bid yet.

Data comes straight from the official OpenFEMA API (no API key, no login, no browser). One run can return tens of thousands of records in under a minute.

What does this Actor do?

It combines two FEMA datasets that are hard to use on their own:

Project type	What it covers	Typical use
Public Assistance (PA) funded projects	Every obligated repair/replacement project after a declared disaster - roads & bridges, water control, public buildings, utilities, parks, debris removal	Find agencies with fresh federal money for rebuild work
Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) sub-applications	HMGP, BRIC, FMA, Post-Fire and PDM projects - elevations, acquisitions, flood control, generators, seismic retrofits, drainage, wildfire mitigation	Find mitigation projects before they're bid (status Pending / Submitted to FEMA / Approved)

Extras you don't get from the raw API:

• Applicant names and addresses for PA projects (the raw dataset only has an ID - the Actor resolves it to e.g. "Wahkiakum County, Cathlamet").
• One flat, consistent schema for both datasets, ready for CSV/Excel.
• Filters that FEMA's own site doesn't give you together: state, date, minimum dollar amount, keyword, damage category, HMA program, "construction only", "pipeline only".

Who uses it?

• Contractors and construction sales teams - civil, bridge, drainage, roofing, generator, modular and building-materials suppliers looking for public agencies that just received rebuild or mitigation funding.
• Engineering and disaster-recovery consultants - grant management, BCA, environmental and design firms tracking HMGP/BRIC pipelines by state.
• Grant writers and economic-development offices - benchmark what neighbouring counties applied for and got.
• Journalists, researchers, insurers - follow the money after a hurricane, flood or wildfire.

How to use it

1. Pick the project types (both by default).
2. Add states (e.g. WA, OR) and a start date.
3. Optional: minimum amount, keyword (bridge, culvert, school, seawall, generator), PA damage categories, HMA programs.
4. Run it and download JSON, CSV, Excel, or pipe it into Google Sheets, Make, Zapier or your CRM.

Input example

{
  "datasets": ["publicAssistance", "hazardMitigation"],
  "states": ["WA", "OR"],
  "sinceDate": "2025-01-01",
  "minAmount": 100000,
  "maxItems": 200
}

Find mitigation construction work that hasn't been awarded yet:

{
  "datasets": ["hazardMitigation"],
  "states": ["FL", "TX", "LA"],
  "constructionOnly": true,
  "pendingOnly": true,
  "minAmount": 500000
}

Only road and bridge repairs in Texas:

{ "datasets": ["publicAssistance"], "states": ["TX"], "damageCategories": ["C"], "keyword": "bridge" }

Output example

{
  "source": "Public Assistance",
  "projectId": "PA-4650-151",
  "disasterNumber": 4650,
  "incidentType": "Severe Storm(s)",
  "title": "East Valley Road & Wilson Creek Culvert Damages",
  "applicant": "Wahkiakum County",
  "applicantCity": "Cathlamet",
  "state": "WA",
  "county": "Wahkiakum County",
  "category": "C - Roads and Bridges",
  "status": "Eligible",
  "stage": "Obligated",
  "totalAmount": 892292.93,
  "federalShare": 803063.63,
  "lastObligationDate": "2026-09-25",
  "disasterUrl": "https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4650"
}

{
  "source": "Hazard Mitigation Assistance",
  "projectId": "EMS-2024-FM-006-0001",
  "title": "Acquisition",
  "applicant": "DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY",
  "state": "WA",
  "county": "PIERCE COUNTY; SKAGIT COUNTY; WHATCOM COUNTY; KING COUNTY",
  "status": "Submitted to FEMA",
  "program": "Flood Mitigation Assistance",
  "totalAmount": 12839703.66,
  "submittedDate": "2026-08-05",
  "proposedStartDate": "2027-08-06",
  "includesConstruction": true,
  "hazard": "Flooding",
  "benefitCostRatio": 1.27
}

Turn on Include raw OpenFEMA record to get all 80+ original HMA fields (building-code year, community lifelines, BCA totals, etc.).

Output fields

Field	Meaning
source	Public Assistance or Hazard Mitigation Assistance
projectId	PA: PA-<disaster>-<project worksheet>; HMA: sub-application ID
title, category	Project title / damage category (PA) or activities (HMA)
applicant, applicantCity, applicantAddress	Public agency, district, tribe or non-profit receiving funds
state, county	Location (HMA: benefiting counties)
status, stage	Eligibility / process step (PA) or application status (HMA)
totalAmount, federalShare, totalObligated	Dollars
firstObligationDate, lastObligationDate	PA funding dates
submittedDate, proposedStartDate, proposedEndDate	HMA pipeline dates
includesConstruction, hazard, program, benefitCostRatio	HMA details
disasterNumber, disasterUrl	Link to the FEMA disaster page

Pricing

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing - you pay only for records you get:

Event	Price
Actor start	$0.005 per run
project-record	$3.00 per 1,000 project records ($0.003 each)

Examples: 200 records = $0.61. A full state-year of PA + HMA records (~3,000) = about $9. Set Max results or the run's maximum cost and the Actor stops cleanly at your budget - you never pay for more than you asked for. Platform compute is included.

Tips

• maxItems applies per project type so one type doesn't crowd out the other.
• HMA pipeline only keeps Pending, Submitted to FEMA, Approved and Subaward Offered/Accepted - the stages where work is still ahead.
• Keyword matching is done by OpenFEMA on the title and handles common capitalisations (bridge, Bridge, BRIDGE).
• Schedule it weekly with a sinceDate a few weeks back to get a running feed of newly obligated projects.

FAQ

Is this legal? Yes. OpenFEMA data is published by the U.S. Government for public reuse and is not subject to copyright; FEMA's API is designed for programmatic access. The Actor calls the official API at a polite rate. Applicants are public entities (counties, cities, districts, agencies, tribes and non-profits), not private individuals. FEMA asks that you don't imply FEMA endorsement of your product.

How fresh is the data? OpenFEMA refreshes these datasets roughly daily (see lastRefresh on PA records). The Actor always queries live.

Why are some HMA amounts or titles empty? FEMA doesn't publish every field for every sub-application, especially older HMGP records. We never invent values.

Can I get the individual properties bought out or elevated? Not in this Actor - the property-level dataset is deliberately excluded because it concerns private homeowners.

Something broke or a field is missing? Open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab - we usually respond within a day.