CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. — As Florida begins to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Idalia, President Joe Biden has approved the state's request for a Major Disaster Declaration.
This means federal funding will supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts in areas hit hardest when Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane, including some parts of the Tampa Bay area.
The funding will be available to support affected individuals in Columbia, Pasco, Gilchrist, Jefferson, Madison, Hernando, Citrus, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee and Taylor counties.
The money can go toward grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help people recover from the effects of the storm.
Local leaders can also tap into the federal aid on a cost-sharing basis for debris removal and hazard mitigation measures.
Although the funding has only been approved for seven counties, for now, damage assessments are still underway and the declaration could be expanded to cover more affected areas.
Any residents or business owners who sustained losses in the designated counties can apply for assistance at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362) or by using the FEMA App.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell joined Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday to discuss the progress of Florida's recovery efforts.
DeSantis commended the "resilience" of the communities in the Big Bend area, which were hit directly by Idalia, and explained how Florida led the charge in coordinating rescue efforts. According to the governor, there had been 40 successful rescues made as of Thursday, 29 of which had been made by the Florida National Guard.
He said all of Florida's bridges were cleared of debris within 12 hours of Idalia making landfall and that utility crews had restored power to 420,000 accounts that had lost power during the storm, with approximately 146,000 outages still to be addressed.