The tell-tale signs were usually there: Heaps of drywall stacked at the side of the road. Carpet, flooring, insulation, anything water-logged dragged from homes and businesses to try to stop mold from making things even worse.
Federal government inspectors cruised Southwest Florida streets in documenting the carnage after Hurricane Ian charged ashore, toppling or flooding homes and upending lives.
Federal officials matched what they documented in these drive-by inspections against claims made to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They also looked for permits to ensure local governments were keeping tabs on the rebuilding process.
In general, FEMA found systematic permitting problems in every Lee County municipality but two, Sanibel Island and the city of Fort Myers.
Now, some 100,000 federal flood insurance policy holders in the village of Estero, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral and unincorporated Lee County are in jeopardy of losing steep discounts on their insurance policies. To make matters worse, the local governments face being kicked out of the program all together.
“We're trying not to think about that worst case scenario,” said Mary Gibbs, the community development director for the village of Estero.
The tiny village has a workforce of 12 full-time employees and another 12 contract employees. Hurricane Ian damage was largely relegated to a particular area near Estero Bay. About 1,000 buildings were damaged.
“A storm of that magnitude is really difficult, with small staff and a lot of damage to catch everything,” Gibbs said.
Initially, FEMA told Estero leaders they found 67 cases where permits were not properly filed and work monitored. That number has fluctuated and local workers are still trying to sort out who did work without permits. That's why Gibbs is appealing to the residents asking that they to notify the village if they did in fact have work done without permits.
Permits can be issued retroactively.
“If you had work done without a permit, please come in and get a permit. You can get an after-the-fact permit. It's really necessary to document that work, because otherwise FEMA can take away the discounts and put us on probation. And you know, we think there's really a small amount of people that did work without permits, and that we don't want to essentially spoil it for everybody,” she said.
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