The EWP Program is a recovery effort program aimed at relieving imminent hazards to life and property caused by floods, fires, windstorms, and other natural occurrences. Assistance is only available in areas that have been declared natural disasters areas by the President or by the Secretary of Agriculture or designee.

Through the recovery component, public and private landowners are eligible for recovery assistance, but must be represented by a project sponsor that must be a legal subdivision of the State, such as a city, county, township or conservation district, and Native American Tribes or Tribal governments. NRCS may pay up to 75 percent of the construction cost of emergency measures. The remaining 25 percent must come from local sources and can be in the form of cash or in-kind services.

Through the FPE component, owners of privately-owned lands or lands owned by local and state governments may be eligible for participation in EWP-FPE. Under FPE, NRCS purchases an easement and pays up to 100 percent of the costs to restore the floodplain functions and values. To be eligible, lands must meet one of the following criteria:

• Lands that have been damaged by flooding at least once within the previous calendar year or have been subject to flood damage at least twice within the previous 10 years
• Other lands within the floodplain are eligible, provided the lands would contribute to the restoration of the flood storage and flow, provide for control of erosion, or that would improve the practical management of the floodplain easement
• Lands that would be inundated or adversely impacted as a result of a dam breach