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Moore About Business: Cape Coral Town Hall provided FEMA Updates one month after the storm

Karen Moore

It was wall-to-wall residents at the November 3 Cape Coral Town Hall FEMA meeting. Speakers included representatives from FEMA on state and local levels, public assistance, the SBA, and the planner for the City of Cape Coral.

The information provided to residents covered a variety of pertinent topics.

A major announcement was the opening of the new FEMA disaster recovery center in Cape Coral at the Lake Kennedy Center, 400 Santa Barbara Boulevard, open every day from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Bob Fogel, FEMA Division Supervisor for Lee County, shared the timeline of FEMA accomplishments in Lee County thus far.

“Hurricane Ian hit Wednesday September 28; on October 2, the first FEMA inspections were done; on October 3, the first FEMA payments were made. As of November 3, 56,045 FEMA registrations were in the system, 11,757 inspections done, 11,508 inspections were being processed," said Fogel.

He continued, “As of November 3, $21,584,650 in homeowners assistance grants have been made and $6,365,000 in rental assistance payments to individuals have been paid: $892,810 had been paid out for flood insurance coverage in Cape Coral.”

FEMA Individual Assistance Director Marcus Bryant shared specific ways FEMA is helping individuals.

“We’re offering housing assistance; home repair and rental assistance; transitional shelter assistance and other needs assistance, known as ONA; personal property replacement, transportation, medical and dental assistance and moving and storage services,” said Bryant.

Kevin Guthrie, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director and State Coordinating Officer, talked about the state’s non-congregate travel trailer sheltering program, which is temporary housing only, and is known as Transitional Sheltering Assistance, or TSA.

“We will be here 3-5 years, or until the area completely recovers,” Guthrie assured the audience. “The state’s non-congregate shelter travel trailer threshold is much lower than FEMA’s trailer housing program.” The state’s program, he explained, is for 6 months, while the FEMA program is for 18 months. He also noted that if you have a second home anywhere, you do not qualify for the FEMA temporary trailer housing program.

There were many more important topics covered in the Town Hall meeting. You can view the entire program at cape-tv.com or listen below.

CapeCoral TownHall FEMA Update 110322.mp3

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