The Federal Emergency Management Agency has received over 42,000 applications for individual assistance because of Hurricane Milton with millions in aid coming through so far, Volusia County Emergency Management Director Clint Mecham said Monday.
According to FEMA, as of Monday, over $26 million had been approved for over 5,600 households in Volusia County through the Individuals and Households Program.
The Individuals and Households Program provides financial help and other services to people who are “uninsured or under-insured” and can include temporary housing such as hotel stays and rental help, home repairs and other disaster-related needs.
“IHP assistance is not a substitute for insurance and cannot compensate for all losses caused by a disaster,” according to FEMA. “The assistance is intended to meet your basic needs and supplement disaster recovery efforts.”
Mecham shared FEMA details as part of a larger Hurricane Milton update at the Volusia County Elected Officials Roundtable at the Daytona Beach International Airport.
People who are denied FEMA assistance can appeal. FEMA has a helpline at 800-621-3362. People can also go to a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center for help.
Brower sends letter to cities about moratorium; Deltona mayor asks for better communication
Volusia County Chairman Jeff Brower sent a letter to local government leaders across the county to try and gather support for a temporary moratorium on residential development. The discussion is on Tuesday’s meeting agenda.
Brower said his proposal is “not the heavy hand of county government coming down on the cities.” Rather, it’s an appeal to work together to deal with flooding woes, he said.
“Everyone of us has constituents that have lost everything,” Brower said.
Deltona Mayor Santiago Avila Jr. said he was surprised to see the email from Brower, adding that it was the first time he’d received an email from Brower about a solution. He asked for consistent communication from Brower, who recently won another term on the County Council.
“I want you to be successful because I live in this county and I want all of us to be successful, but it needs to be two-way communication and that email was not a great start,” Avila said.
Jan. 11 deadline approaches for debris collection Debris dashboard launched
Debris operations are chugging along in Volusia County. County crews are working to meet the Jan. 11 deadline to pick up debris as part of pursuing full FEMA reimbursement, Volusia County Public Works Director Ben Bartlett said.
“I have every confidence that we will,” Bartlett said.
People can look at local debris collection totals through the Florida Division of Emergency Management’s statewide debris monitoring dashboard at floridadisaster.org.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: FEMA aid for Hurricane Milton reaches over $26M so far in Volusia, agency says
Reporting by Sheldon Gardner, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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