Gov. Linda Lingle announced today the school will receive $31 million as the result of a disaster declaration by President Bush. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding reflects the federal share to be matched by $10 million from the university.

Earlier, the university was allotted the entire $25 million payout from a state flood insurance policy. Hawai'i members of Congress also have been working for additional money for the university.

The extra funding brings one additional cost to the university, however. Insurance coverage for affected buildings will nearly double under federal requirements, raising annual premiums from $350,000 to $650,000, the governor's office said.

The FEMA funding, which followed a federal inspection of the damage in February, is much higher than estimates made by Interim UH President David McClain, who said he expected between $15 million and $25 million in federal disaster assistance.

Lingle praised federal officials for working "diligently and expeditiously" with the university to release the funds. She said the funding will help "bring the Manoa campus back to normal as quickly as possible."

State Civil Defense will oversee use of the federal and matching fund.

The funds came just days after the university reopened Hamilton Library for the first time since Oct. 30, when a wall of water swept across campus, damaging 32 facilities and destroying thousands of valuable library books and documents. Heavy rains along Manoa Stream caused the waterway to overflow into the campus and nearby neighborhoods.

Damage to some 200 surrounding homes was estimated at $5 million.

Hamilton is the state's leading research library, with more than 3 million volumes.

Manoa Chancellor Peter Englert said earlier this month that he was having a difficult time balancing the school's budget because of the funding disruptions.

Englert has estimated that total costs from the flooding could reach higher than estimated, possibly as high as $120 million, including needed construction to prevent future flooding.

Some losses in research cannot be estimated in money he said, because some researchers lost years of work, and some experiments cannot easily be duplicated.