Nearly $500,000 will be spent to add high-resolution surveillance cameras at river and port sites in Vicksburg and Warren County.

A $444,988 allocation from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through FEMA’s Port Security Grant Program will “provide an extra layer of protection” along the Mississippi, said Marcia Weaver of the city’s planning department.

“We’ve been awarded the grant,” Weaver said. “Now we’re working on the implementation.”

Early plans allow for a dozen cameras to be placed at points along the river and at the Port of Vicksburg to watch river traffic and identify potential threats. The cameras may be monitored at the Vicksburg Warren E-911 Dispatch Center on Clay Street, Weaver said, with staffing and related details to be decided by the seven-member E-911 Commission.

Federal funds will cover two-thirds of the project’s cost, with the remaining third to come from in-kind donations, which can include site donations, Weaver said. Maintenance is expected to be handled by the city, as grantee, Weaver said.

Cameras are already in place at the river bridges and some port locations.

Security grants now total nearly $700,000 since the start of the year.

In October, Warren County supervisors agreed to match $204,375 from the federal agency to pay for a boat and other equipment for search and rescue. The match is $51,093.75, but additional money will be needed to pay for a truck, trailer and storage space for the vessel. Warren County and the Gulf Coast-based Department of Maritime Resources was awarded the money as part of a previous application by the state.

Money for fire safety education materials from FEMA’s Fire Prevention and Safety Grant Program was the goal of a grant also applied for in October, by the city planning department. A 10 percent local match is required if Vicksburg is approved, Weaver has said.

Two grants awarded to the Warren County Emergency Management Agency totaling $44,150.92 are aimed at improvements to the office, located in the courthouse and used as the county’s emergency operations center, Emergency Management Director Gwen Coleman said.

Some of the money will be used to upgrade the office’s phone system, Coleman said.

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., whose district includes Warren County, is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com