WESTPORT, Wash. — The City of Westport will get its tsunami evacuation tower funding after all.

In 2023 the city was awarded approximately $15 million in grant funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through the agency’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program.

In April the agency announced it was cancelling $3.6 billion in BRIC grants as a move to eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse.”

“The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program. It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters," the agency said in a statement.

Westport Mayor Ed Welter went on Facebook calling for constituents and elected officials to contact Congress to get the funding re-approved.

In late May he got a phone call from FEMA saying Westport would receive the grant.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Welter, ”I wish I had more insight into why the decision got made. Maybe you can go find out for me and let me know, but I don't, I don't know.”

He said the deadline for the project’s completion has been extended to the end of 2027.

Welter said the city is already working to make that happen.

”We got an extension, we're not going to get another one, and we're not going to be the guys that lost it twice,” said Welter.

City officials in Hoquiam and Aberdeen hope whatever happened in Westport, happens for their communities.

The cities were awarded $80 million in BRIC grants to construct 11 miles of levees through the most populated parts of Grays Harbor County.

Hoquiam City Administrator Brian Shay said he remains “hopeful” the BRIC funds will be made available to Hoquiam.

If FEMA does not award the grants Shay said Hoquiam will build a segment of the levee in 2026 while “we pursue additional funding sources” to get the levees completed.