ORLANDO, Fla. – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has provided more than
$2 billion to the State of Florida and communities affected by Hurricane Irma to defray the costs of emergency response and repairs to public facilities caused by the 2017 storm.
In total, FEMA’s Public Assistance (PA) program has provided $2,001,722,109 in grants to state and
local governments and certain nonprofits, including houses of worship, recovering from the hurricane.
This amount includes:
- $964.99 million for debris removal and disposal
- $549.93 million for response costs such as police and fire department overtime and shelters
- $42.85 million for repairing roads and bridges
- $37.18 million for repairing water control facilities such as canals and stormwater systems
- $112.28 million for repairing or replacing buildings and equipment
- $111.63 million for repairing utilities such as electric and water/sewer systems
- $132.02 million for repairing parks and recreation facilities
- $50.8 million for administrative/management costs
The PA program reimburses eligible applicants for the cost of responding to a disaster and repairing or replacing damaged or destroyed infrastructure. The federal government authorized reimbursement for emergency response and debris removal for all 67 Florida counties and infrastructure reimbursement for
56 counties. To date, FEMA has funded 12,593 projects, including amendments and cost adjustments.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) reviews the projects and submits them to FEMA. If approved, FEMA obligates the funds to FDEM for distribution to the applicant.
The federal share for PA projects is not less than 75 percent of the eligible cost. The state determines how
the non-federal share of the cost of a project (up to 25 percent) is split with the sub-recipients such as local and county governments.