SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Since Hurricane Ian hit Florida in September, Florida families have received $1.79 billion dollars in disaster grants, loans, and flood insurance payments.
According to Federal Emergency Management Agency, their goal is to help those impacted with recovery and get them situated as soon as possible.
FEMA now has 23 disaster recovery centers spread across 26 counties. The agency's teams have interacted with nearly 84,000 survivors who are in need of a range of support.
"Things are moving very quickly," spokesperson for FEMA, Renee Bafalis, said. "We have programs available for temporary housing that have been put into play now."
Along with direct housing programs in the six affected counties, including Sarasota, FEMA trailers and manufactured homes will start arriving as early as next week. In total, FEMA has provided $689 million to households, $322 million to the state's emergency response, and $499 million in disaster loans has been provided by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
"Additionally, we have a National Flood Insurance Program that's at about $288 million in claims that have been filed so far," Bafalis said.
Disaster teams have also been going door-to-door in hard-hit communities to make sure people have what they need and to help get them registered with FEMA.
"They have iPads with them, they will have a title-identification with them, so we really encourage people, if someone comes to your home representing FEMA and you haven't registered, please register and make sure that you're in the system," Bafalis said.
According to Bafalis, FEMA teams try to help with the relief and recovery efforts. Some are encountering challenges that complicate the process. One such challenge is improper documentation by survivors which could be causing their claims to be denied at the initial stage. Another obstacle has been the slow process of insurance inspections due to the high demand for service.
"People, you know, are frustrated with not getting insurance agents out quickly enough and, unfortunately for us, that is the frustration as well because we want to make sure that if people are covered for insurance, they're getting what they need," she said.
Operation Blue Roof has also installed more than 18,000 roofs with the final set of roof installations planned for this weekend.
"We want to make sure people are in homes, in a safe and secure environment as soon as possible so they can start the rebuilding of their homes," Bafalis said.
FEMA is also hiring as the agency needs more than 300 people to fill full-time positions. Those jobs are in Brandon, Fort Myers, Kissimmee, Orlando, and Sarasota. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply online through USAJobs.gov.