The Rochester Post Bulletin reports that,

Austin city officials announced Wednesday morning a $5 million U.S. Department of Commerce grant for the city's flood mitigation projects.

Together with state grants and Austin's local half-cent sales tax, the federal dollars will pay for construction of a flood wall along the eastern edge of Main Street from Interstate 90 to the Austin Municipal Swimming Pool.

City officials said the funding is a key component of a comprehensive plan that has taken several years to design and millions of dollars to complete. The area around North Main Street was at the center of the 2004 and 2008 floods. It is also the location of several downtown businesses, including Hormel Foods Corp.'s south campus, Austin Packaging Company's plant and the Spam Museum.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, as well as 1st District Rep. Tim Walz helped secure the money.

They described the grant's investment as going toward: construction of flood control infrastructure, including a concrete floodwall and earthen levee on the west side of the Cedar River, stormwater outfall closure structures, a storm water pump station, shut-off valves for utilities that cross the Cedar River, and miscellaneous appurtenances, as well as relocation of a sanitary sewer forcemain along North Main Street.

You can read the entire story online here.