UPDATE: Thursday morning, county officials were notified by email that FEMA has declared individual assistance available to Indian River County residents financially impacted by Hurricane Matthew. For details on how to appky, go to www.floridadisaster.org. www.floridadisaster.org floridadisaster.org
Local governments and residents may be on the hook for most of the expenses related to Hurricane Matthew.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said on Oct. 8 that Indian River County and its municipalities would be eligible for reimbursement of debris removal – which it’s estimated will cost as much as $1 million – and protection measures taken to harden facilities in preparation for the storm.
But all other categories of assistance, including reimbursement for damage to government facilities, roads and traffic signals, are still “under review.”
County and city water and wastewater utilities have had mounting expenses for disaster recovery, and Vero electric brought in crews from out of state to help restore power for 20,000 people.
Those expenses may have to come out of utility system reserves if FEMA decides not to reimburse utility losses. Eventually, ratepayers would need to replenish those reserves.
County Administrator Jason Brown said it is “very important” local governments get additional assistance from FEMA. Damage to beaches alone, he said, could be upwards of $13 million.
“I think we need to make sure that we’re doing a good job of showing the amount of damage to our beaches,” Brown said. “Beaches are key to our tourism. Tourism is the one of the mainstays of our economy here.”
Brown said there’s a perception that Brevard County suffered greater damage to its beaches from the hurricane, but said he and Coastal Engineer James Gray are determined to keep Indian River’s beach damage at the forefront of state and federal officials’ priority lists.