San Juan, Puerto Rico — For the last 15 months, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been collaborating with the Government of Puerto Rico to speed up the recovery process due to the damage that Hurricane Fiona left in September 2022. To date, more than $1.2 billion has been awarded in disaster assistance to help survivors, communities and public infrastructure affected.
“Before, during and after hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico last year, the working relationship between my Administration and FEMA helped make possible concrete actions for the benefit of our people. The best evidence is the swiftness of the approval of the $1.2 billion in direct assistance to citizens and quick disbursement of $2,630,690.50 to municipalities, government agencies and non-profit institutions in FEMA Public Assistance Projects through the Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resiliency (COR3) and its Working Capital Advance (WCA) Program. The Government of Puerto Rico will continue working very closely with FEMA to ensure our Island’s full recovery”, said the Governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro R. Pierluisi.
FEMA has provided nearly $648 million in funds for individuals and households under FEMA's Individual Assistance (IA) program, which has served over 740,000 applicants in Puerto Rico. IA personnel took extra steps to follow up with over 23,000 survivors who additional support with their applications. This survivor-centric approach led to the approval of close to $16 million in disaster grants for individuals and family households who might have otherwise been deemed ineligible.
FEMA’s Public Assistance (PA) has obligated over $505 million, including nearly $226 million allocated for emergency protective measures and over $246 million for permanent work. This year 2023, the collaboration between FEMA, the Government of Puerto Rico and the municipalities has been obligating an average of over 114 projects per month, resulting in more than 1,300 obligations to date.
“We have maintained a consistent progress on this recovery operation, and we aim to continue pushing forward all pending projects in the system, supporting our stakeholders throughout the way. Right now, close to 40 percent of the eligible applicants have already completed the final stage of their process with FEMA. We are committed to help Puerto Rico recover from the damage that Hurricane Fiona caused, and to provide them the resources to repair smarter and stronger,” said Robert Little, FEMA Federal Coordinating Officer for Hurricane Fiona.
To that end, the Hazard Mitigation (HM) team has obligated more than 780 projects for a total of $60.8 million. HM provides funding for eligible mitigation measures that reduce disaster losses and may be included in Public Assistance program projects. Of those joint projects, 1,438 have been reviewed, which represents a 96 percent completion of the process. These projects are estimated to sum up $165 million in HM’s obligations.
Another mitigation resource is FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which disbursed more than $4.2 million to claims from policyholders that Hurricane Fiona affected.
As part of this joint recovery process, homeowners, renters, nonprofits, and businesses in Puerto Rico were eligible to apply for low-interest loans from our federal partners the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Over $109 million in disaster loans were approved to help with physical damage as well as financial losses due to Hurricane Fiona.
Our support to survivors, the Government of Puerto Rico, municipalities, and non-profit organizations has been constant. The obligation of billions of dollars in disaster assistance to Puerto Rico ensures a successful recovery process for 2024.
# # #
FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during and after disasters.
For more information on Puerto Rico’s recovery from Hurricane Fiona, please visit fema.gov/disaster/4671. Follow us on our Facebook.com/FEMAPuertoRico page, Twitter @FEMA or @FEMAEspanol.