Hurricane Ian damaged over 100,000 homes and business in Lee County.

Those considered severely damaged must be torn down and built back to higher flood and hurricane-proof standards. It’s a very costly proposition that not everyone may have been adhering too.

County commissioner Kevin Ruane summed up the enormity of the situation saying there just aren’t enough inspectors able to monitor this.

“They are going to cut corners. There’s not enough bodies out there to keep track of 100,000 permits. I mean think about it,” he said during a briefing on the matter Tuesday morning in the county commission meeting chambers.

Residents in nearly all Lee County municipalities are bracing for the possibility that they may have to shell out multiples of millions of dollars more for flood insurance premiums because not all may have been following the law.

The federal government maintains that there has been too much post-Hurricane Ian work being done without proper permitting and oversight on Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Estero and unincorporated Lee County.

Last month the Federal Emergency Management Agency told leaders of those governments they were no longer in good standing. That means that the steep discounts passed on to consumers was going away.

The governments fought back saying they needed more time to prove they were doing everything possible to ensure residents weren’t cutting corners and not abiding by up-to-date build-back standards.

The five municipal governments were given a 30 day reprieve recently. They have asked for an additional 30 days to gather all necessary paperwork which they hope will get them back into the good gracious of the government. A decision has not been made on the additional 30 days.

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