Collier County faces challenges and frustrations as it works to recover from Hurricane Ian.
Among them are a shortage of temporary housing, a shortage of manpower, and a lack of funds for non-profit organizations.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has promised to provide temporary housing for the displaced, but has not shared details such as when travel trailers and caravans will begin arriving.
At a briefing to the Collier Commission on Tuesday, county emergency management director Dan Summers said there wasn’t much information he could provide on the housing front.
more:Commissioner Collier frustrated by lack of temporary housing for Ian victims
more:Collier County Debris Removal Update: Enough to “Fill Over 10,000 Pickleball Courts”
Here’s what he knew.
- A total of 743 households in the county met the criteria to qualify for FEMA housing, and 47 were approved.
- Of the 107 commercial sites identified for trailer or caravan placements in the county, 87 have been removed and the rest are still under investigation.
“We know deployment will take four to six weeks,” Summers says. “I don’t know the estimated delivery date.”
The county provided FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers with a list of potential temporary housing sites two days after the storm, saying it would be ready “as soon as possible.”
FEMA has begun contacting eligible residents about picking up trailers to set up in their driveways, but has not shared information about timing, Summers said.
In addition to supplying travel trailers and mobile homes, FEMA provides housing by securing and leasing ready-to-use residential properties and renovating and leasing multifamily homes.
Assistance program eligibility includes: Owning a home with a loss value of $12 or more per square foot, or renting a home that has been destroyed or severely damaged. Mr Summers said.
The first step is to apply for individual disaster assistance from FEMA.
FEMA stresses that rolling out direct housing programs will take time. Moreover, not everyone affected by Ian can solve this problem.
A few weeks ago, officials announced they would provide housing to six counties, including Collier and Lee, after determining that alternatives for displaced people were in short supply.
FEMA working “ tirelessly ” to provide housing
Richard Brewer, FEMA’s media relations expert, did not provide information about the timing of the housing in an email.
However, he said:
“FEMA is committed to providing Hurricane Ian survivors with the tools they need to ensure a safe, healthy and functional environment to call home, and to help them begin their recovery quickly. increase.”
Early on, FEMA and the State of Florida initiated a Transition Shelter Assistance Program. This will allow the agency to directly pay participating hotels and motels in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia the agreed-upon fees to provide emergency shelter for Ian’s survivors. But that’s not enough and availability at Collier is limited.
Summers said in the latest briefing that only 55 of the county’s 1,908 eligible residents are benefiting from the program, with 44 of those still checking into participating hotels. rice field.
Hotel room inventory is still tight, and a significant number of emergency and relief personnel are still filling hotels across the county.
As of Tuesday, 46 people were still living at the county emergency shelter in North Collier Regional Park, and the Red Cross is working hard to find better alternatives, Summers said.
manpower and money issues
FEMA’s staffing shortage at Collier is also frustrating, Summers said, but he understands it’s a national problem plaguing FEMA.
Another concern is how long it will take to filter from the state agency known as Volunteer Florida to local nonprofits. Money is needed to hire more caseworkers to help residents and families struggling to get back on their feet, Summers said.
Donations to the Collier County Community Foundation were quickly put to use, but not enough to meet local needs, he said.
“I think that speaks volumes. We moved money in a few hours, and we’re still trying to move money out of Volunteer Florida,” Summers said.
In Collier, more than 31,000 people have registered to seek help through FEMA, demonstrating the extent of Ian’s impact in the county despite avoiding a direct hit.
To date, more than $37.4 million has been awarded to local residents and families through FEMA’s Individual and Household Programs. This includes about $25 million in housing assistance and her $12.9 million for other needs, including grants to replace private property destroyed by Ian.
“Money doesn’t solve everything, but it does,” Summers said.
The U.S. Small Business Administration offers over $30.4 million in low-interest loans to real estate and business owners in the county. Most of that money (about $27.7 million) is in the form of mortgages for repairs.
Internet outage continues
Summers said while he was pleased that the county’s contractors were clearing the debris in record time and that utilities were responding quickly to restoring power, Expressed disappointment at the lack of internet that has hampered recovery in some areas of the county, particularly the Everglades. city.
He spoke with county leaders and internet carriers Comcast and CenturyLink about what can be done to speed up overall recovery if another devastating storm hits, now and in the future. He suggested that more dialogue was needed to confirm.
Kristina Pantelides, lead communications manager at Lumen/CenturyLink, responded by email, saying progress continues in problematic areas, including Everglades City.
“We are working hard every day to serve more customers, and we plan to significantly restore service in Collier County by the end of November,” she said.
Comcast’s vice president of public affairs, Mindy Kramer, said the company’s network is now “fully operational and functional” at Collier, with open issues classified as customer-specific and sent to technicians. I said I needed a visit.
“The magnitude of this storm was the worst many people have experienced in quite a while. It did a lot of damage and put a lot of our equipment under it.In coastal areas and where storm surges hit, we have 8 to 10 feet of salt water,” she said in an email. rice field.
Additionally, the line was damaged and destroyed by 150 mph winds.
“These lines had to be replaced and replaced with extensive new equipment. We put over 1,700 people into working on the restoration. , there was an enormous amount of outages, the work needed to restore and rebuild the more than 400 miles of affected network,” Kramer said.
Reconstruction of Everglades City proved particularly challenging due to the severity of the flood damage.
But Kramer said her company has significantly sped up the original timeline for the restoration by bringing in more equipment and crew. The target date changed from her November 16th to hers October 19th, by which date her 90% of the city’s network had been restored, and a few days later she had her 97% restored.
In Lee County, residents in the worst-hit areas of Sanibel, Captiva, Pine Island, and Fort Myers Beach are still without internet connectivity.
