Miami-Dade County said it has been awarded nearly $18 million in funds to harden area buildings against hurricanes.

Some grant recipients include Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami-Dade College, Miami-Dade County Park and Recreation Department, Miami-Dade Public Works Department, City of Miami Beach and Miami Children's Hospital. Recipients are part of the Miami-Dade County Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS) Working Group and applied for applied for hazard mitigation funds following Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

The funds come from Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Miami-Dade said the local mitigation strategy was set up in 1998 to identify ways to reduce its vulnerability to various hazards. Since the program's inception, hundreds of mitigation projects have been completed, worth more than $250 million.

Some examples of completed projects where structures have been hardened against hurricane hazards include the Jackson Health System, where work on all but the Ryder Trauma Center and Jackson North have been completed and the University of Miami Medical and Marine campuses. The funds also include completed flood reduction projects.

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