FLORIDA — Many homes on Manastoa Key were destroyed by Hurricane Milton’s storm surge.
Over the last month I’ve shown you many ways Florida homeowners are working to protect against flooding, like raising their homes - but those homeowners had questions if a FEMA program would help cover the costs.
I took their questions to FEMA Media Representative Troy York on Manasota Key, another area hit hard by Milton, to get some answers about their Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.
Watch Community Correspondent Austin Schargorodski's report here...
“FEMA is very much into the mitigation ideas. They really want people coming out of the recovery period of an incident where they’ve suffered losses and damages to their property and had to rebuild. They’re pretty anxious for them to rebuild with mitigation in mind,” said York.
York explained that FEMA sends funding to the state, which decides how it’s distributed and what mitigation projects qualify. These include home elevations and fortifying structures against storms.
“It could be a retention pond where it will take drainage if you have a water flowing in. It could be retaining walls. It could be strengthening the materials like your windows and doors,” said York.
York stressed the importance of these measures, saying they can save $13 dollars in disaster recovery costs for every dollar spent on prevention.
“FEMA very much believes in the old adage that ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’,” said York.
To understand the mitigation requirements and start the rebuilding process, York recommends reaching out to a contractor.
Rob Crowe, a contractor with T-Rock construction, who’s helping people build back stronger on Manasota Key, walked me through how it works.
“You would contact us, and we’re going to go through these steps. Do the inspection, get some number in front of you as the homeowner. When we come to an agreement, we start working with FEMA to get you some funds to help you rebuild your property. Then, we have to go through the process of getting the permits with county inspectors who approve the drawings and survey the land. We do all of that for you,” Crowe explained.
York also suggested visiting floridadisaster.org or stopping by a FEMA disaster recovery center for help.
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