FEMA Help After Hurricane Irma In Florida
Florida is no stranger to hurricanes, but in August 2017, the state faced one of its most devastating hurricanes when Irma formed. The extremely powerful hurricane was the strongest one in the Atlantic since Wilma. It’s currently the strongest storm to form in the open Atlantic region. From August 31st to September 11th, Irma paved a way of destruction, affecting at least nine states as it turned the streets into rivers, ripped power lines from the ground, uprooted trees and wrecked complete havoc. Besides Florida, Irma devastated many small Caribbean islands, too.
But Florida’s lower half saw the brunt of Irma’s wrath, leaving tornadoes and flooding as it moved inland. Because of all the chaos and havoc, Irma made 5.6 million people evacuate before it made two landfalls.
Despite happening in 2017, Florida’s recovery is still underway, progressing six months after it wrecked havoc on the sate thanks to private and public partnerships, as well as hard work by the hurricane’s survivors. Thanks to these collaborative efforts, recovery is moving fast.
So far, accomplishments includes cleaning up the region that was greatly affected by Irma, creating solutions for those displaced from their home and developing recovery plans with communities so that they can get back on the feet just as they were before Irma came through. Thanks to financial help from private and government entities, Floridians are starting to repair and rebuild their lives after Hurricane Irma. But despite all the positive efforts and recovery accomplishments, it’s still a long journey ahead, but the recovery partnership will continue to work together until everything is done.
So far, about 43,000 volunteers have given 1.5 million hours to repair and muck out homes affected by Irma. Florida will get an additional 20% of the total estimated federal disaster assistance money to fund the reduction of disaster damage and projects relating to this. Since Florida is used to hurricanes, the state has extensive recovery experience and because of that has created strong connections with voluntary agencies, which has aided survivors over the past couple of months. More than 140 different organizations have come out to help those recovering from Hurricane Irma.
FEMA itself has provided travels trailers and apartments for 318 households in various counties across Florida and have provided temporary help with rental assistance and hotel room expenses, paying out $497 million for some to pay rent. Survivors have received $173 million for home repairs to make them habitable again, while $68 million was also given for survivors to replace household items lost in Irma.
