Six months after Hurricane Idalia struck the Florida Big Bend as a major Category 3 hurricane, FEMA and its federal partners have provided more than $820 million to help with disaster recovery.
FEMA provided $82.5 million in Individual Assistance grant funding to over 35,000 eligible survivors. More than 7,000 survivors were given rental assistance to help pay for lodging while they repair or rebuild their disaster damaged home.
FEMA has provided $295 million in Public Assistance grant funding to the state of Florida to help state and local governments and certain nonprofits with emergency response projects. More projects are in development.
The U.S. Small Business Administration has approved $78.6 million in low-interest disaster loans for homeowners, renters, business owners and private non-profit organizations.
With 5,210 claims submitted, the National Flood Insurance Program closed 98% of cases and paid out $364 million to policyholders to restore homes and businesses. In all, the Hazard Mitigation Community Education Outreach teams counseled over 12,000 survivors on the importance of flood insurance and other mitigation measures.
More than 230 FEMA staff members are deployed to the state, working with the Florida Division of Emergency Management and other partners in Idalia recovery.
Immediately after the storm, FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance teams went door to door in impacted communities to help survivors apply for assistance. FEMA inspectors have performed more than 42,000 home inspections for survivors who applied for federal disaster assistance.
In Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lafayette, Levy, Madison, Suwannee and Taylor counties, FEMA is providing temporary housing to eligible survivors whose homes are uninhabitable because of the hurricane. As of Jan. 23, all eligible survivors were provided FEMA temporary housing units.
FEMA operated 38 Disaster Recovery Centers, including 18 mobile recovery centers, with nearly 20,000 visits by survivors.
As Hurricane Idalia caused major impacts to rural communities with a vast and varied agricultural landscape, FEMA and the state of Florida opened two Farmer Recovery Centers to better serve farmers. The centers served as a one-stop assistance shop where farmers spoke with many federal and state agencies about available resources to help them in their recovery.
FEMA continues to work with federal, state, local governments and voluntary organizations on an ongoing basis to identify survivors’ unmet needs, and to help navigate the available assistance and resources.
For the latest information on Florida’s recovery from Hurricane Idalia, visit floridadisaster.org/info and fema.gov/disaster/4734. Follow FEMA on X, formerly Twitter, at twitter.com/femaregion4 and at facebook.com/fema.