The Federal Emergency Management Agency Hazard Mitigation Grant Program has awarded $903,816 to elevate eight houses in Misquamicut, the Town of Westerly announced Friday.

The grant comes from hazard mitigation funding that was available from Tropical Storm Irene, which the town applied for just after Superstorm Sandy. All of the designated properties were impacted by Sandy. The property owners will elevate their structures between 1 foot and 3 feet above the area’s base flood elevation level.

The property owners are responsible for their own local matching funds. The town submitted the application in February and was notified in a Nov. 29 letter from the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency that the funds had been approved.

“This award is very important to Westerly and the State of Rhode Island as it provides funding for long term recovery projects, that will assist in protection and preventative measures against flooding,” Jamia McDonald, executive director of the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency, said in a news release.

In addition to the FEMA grant, the town also was awarded $54,825 from the Natural Resources Conservation Service Emergency Watershed Protection Program to clean up the hazardous vegetative debris in the Pawcatuck River. This funding is a direct result of Superstorm Sandy.