ORLANDO, Fla. – FEMA has awarded grants totaling $4,868,795 for the State of Florida to reimburse applicants for eligible costs of emergency response and repairs to public facilities following Hurricane Irma.
The FEMA Public Assistance grants include:
- City of Jacksonville: $1,604,928 to replace the wooden Loest Road Bridge with a concrete structure and strengthen the embankment to protect against future high-velocity flooding.
- Pinellas County: $1,059,237 for administrative costs of tracking and accounting for labor, equipment, materials and other repair costs after the storm.
- South Florida Water Management District: $1,091,860 for administrative costs of tracking and accounting for labor, equipment, materials and other repair costs after the storm.
- Sumter Electric Cooperative Inc. (SECO Energy): $1,112,770 for administrative costs of tracking and accounting for labor, equipment, materials and other repair costs after the storm.
FEMA’s Public Assistance program provides grants to state, tribal, and local governments, and certain types of private nonprofit organizations, including some houses of worship, so that communities can quickly respond to and recover from major disasters or emergencies. The Florida Division of Emergency Management works with FEMA during all phases of the program and conducts final reviews of FEMA-approved projects.
The federal share for projects is not less than 75 percent of the eligible cost. The state determines how the nonfederal share of the cost of a project (up to 25 percent) is split with the subrecipients like local and county governments.