ORLANDO, Fla. – FEMA has awarded grants totaling $42,559,595 for the State of Florida to reimburse applicants for debris removal, administrative costs and repairs following Hurricane Irma in 2017.
The FEMA Public Assistance program grants include:
- Florida Department of Transportation: $23,546,676 for debris removal in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Crews removed 160,088 cubic yards of vegetative debris, 173,921 cubic yards of construction and demolition debris, 84,333 large household appliances, 232 hazardous leaning trees and 2,135 hanging limbs.
- Miami-Dade County: $9,464,457 for administrative costs of tracking and accounting for labor, equipment, materials and other costs.
- Orange County: $5,495,325 for removal of more than 470,803 cubic yards of vegetative debris from roads and public property, including rights-of-way.
- Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative, Inc.: $4,053,137 for service to nine counties, including the cost of labor, equipment, materials, contracts, 293 utility and transformer poles, 329 transformers, 26,852 feet of damaged conductor and 35 security lights.
The program provides grants to state, tribal and local governments, and certain types of private nonprofit organizations, including some houses of worship, so 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 Public Assistance 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 subrecipients such as local and county governments.
FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters.