Katrina cash will clean bayous and ditches in the Vicksburg area along with funding a new fire station and airport terminal.

In grants announced by Gov. Haley Barbour, Vicksburg and Warren County received the largest awards in the state among 43 non-coastal counties and cities eligible for recovery money from the August 2005 hurricane.

More than $3.9 million was awarded to improve flows in drainage bayous running through Vicksburg, specifically Glass, Hatcher and Stouts bayous. The amount nearly equals the $4 million maximum available to individual counties. The amount supervisors are to receive is almost 10 percent of the $41 million available in this funding round statewide.

Vicksburg received more than $1.3 million to build a new terminal and Vicksburg Fire Department station at its municipal airport on U.S. 61 South — the first such successful award since the facility had its eligibility restored for federal money by the Federal Aviation Administration in December.

Together, local governments’ combined $5.29 million in grant awards outpaced those approved for more densely populated areas such as Ridgeland and Hattiesburg. Generally, the $41 million in awards went to cities with populations less than 50,000. Some, such as Carthage and Union, have populations less than 5,000.

Another successful applicant close to Vicksburg was the Town of Edwards, which received $320,000 to renovate its city hall building.

Much of the course of drainage streams through Vicksburg has been enclosed in pipes through the years. However, many of the streams remain open, overgrown and often clogged by debris ranging from normal vegetation and litter to appliances.

While the substantial grant figures to expand the scope of the project beyond debris-clearing and into widening some canal walls, Board President Richard George said the work will be contracted out like most public infrastructure improvements.

“Nothing has changed with it,” George said. “(County crews) might do some incidentals.”

Supervisors pledged up to $250,000 from the county’s gaming revenue to match the grant.

All projects are funded by Mississippi’s $5.48 billion Katrina recovery package of community development block grants through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered on the state level by the Mississippi Development Authority’s Disaster Recovery Division.

A 24-hour fire crew was placed in an existing building at Vicksburg Municipal Airport after a 1990 annexation added homes, businesses and factories in the area to the Vicksburg Fire Department’s responsibilities. While that building has been improved over the years, the grant provides an opportunity to build an all-new station in companion with a terminal building with offices for airport personnel, a lounge for transient pilots and other amenities.

While no timeline has been set by supervisors for initial construction advertisements for the bayou improvement effort, Mayor Laurence Leyens said work at the airport will commence “quickly.”

A combination of a terminal and a fire station would lower utility costs, city officials have said, and alleviate periodic flooding problems at the current station. Word on another $1 million in economic development grants is expected this year from the Delta Regional Authority and will be tailored to airport needs.

A separate storm-related grant application to build 15-foot levees around the city’s wastewater treatment plant on Rifle Range Road to protect it from bayou water backing up during heavy rains was not approved, Leyens said. Up to $1.2 million left over from a 2003 bond issue could be set aside for that project, city planners have said.

Site visits from MDA officials took place in the weeks leading up to the announcement to verify the eligibility of the 49 projects submitted, 39 of which passed all federal CDBG requirements. Some of those provisions included showing benefit to low-income areas and with a potential to eliminate slums or blight. Secondary goals included improving wastewater and storm drainage facilities.

“These are projects fitting very well into the CDBG program’s traditional scope of work,” MDA executive director Gray Swoope said.

Individual assistance is available through the Small Business Administration for the April 4 storm that hit central Mississippi ,which spawned two tornadoes in north and east Warren County. Emergencies declared in 12 counties, including Warren, made them eligible for further federal storm aid.

Grant recipientsCities and counties awarded disaster recovery grants:Bay Springs — $265,600, debris removal, drainage improvementsBrookhaven — $665,000, debris removal, drainage improvementsCarthage — $3,977,125, debris removal, drainage improvementsCentreville — $544,000, demolition of damaged public buildingsDecatur — $909,000, repair, improvements of wastewater treatment lagoonEdwards — $320,000, repair, rehabilitation of town hall buildingForest — $311,800, repair, renovation of Head Start/nutrition siteHattiesburg — $1,437,900, construction of storm-damaged fire station; $2,364,210, wastewater treatment plant improvementsJasper County — $164,480, courthouse repairsLamar County — $1,931,130, expansion, construction of fire stationsLaurel — $1,104,300, construction of wastewater treatment plant administrative building; $234,000, demolition, construction of a new senior citizens buildingLouisville — $606,000, repairs to Louisville ColiseumLumberton — $1,159,712.82, demolition of damaged buildings, creation of green spaceMagnolia — $633,949, downtown revitalization, streetscape repair, improvements; $344,500, repairs, improvements to elevated water tankMcComb — $2,000,900, construction of elevated water tankMeridian — $1,786,000, Bonita Lake dam repair, drainage improvementsOktibbeha County — $1,690,125, demolition, reconstruction of damaged county education buildingOsyka — $260,000, restoration, repair and town hall buildingPachuta — $580,150, drainage repair, improvementsPelahatchie — $1,810,985, streetscape improvements, building rehabilitation; $231,500 for repair, renovation of town hall buildingPhiladelphia — $1,120,000 replace damaged nutrition sitePurvis — $916,200, repair, improvements of the wastewater treatment facilityRidgeland — $2,654,881, water system improvementsShubuta — $121,250, debris removal, repair of wastewater treatment lagoonStonewall — $405,300, removal, disposal of storm debrisSummit — $1,004,753, downtown revitalization, streetscape improvementsSumrall — $430,700, drainage improvementsTaylorsville — $152,305, structural repair of Watkins MuseumUnion — $2,000,000, construction of water treatment plant to replace the one damaged by the stormVicksburg — $1,305,750, construction, repair of the damaged fire station, terminal building at city airportWalnut Grove — $916,680, debris removal, drainage improvementsWarren County — $3,985,863, drainage improvements for various bayousWaynesboro — $796,583, development of landfill to accommodate debris from KatrinaWesson — $209,500, sewer system repair, improvements; $202,500, debris removal, drainage improvements