Biden-Harris Administration Shares Florida Recovery Progress One Month After Hurricane Milton

More than $2.1 billion approved for Florida following 2024 hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton

WASHINGTON -The Biden-Harris Administration has maintained unwavering support to Florida after three catastrophic hurricanes, Debby, Helene and Milton, made landfall in a two-month period. In the month since Milton made landfall, a total of $2.1 billion in FEMA assistance has been approved for Florida's hurricane recovery. Assistance has included $931.7 million in awards directly to survivors, helping them pay for housing repairs, personal property replacement and other recovery efforts. Additionally, over $1.18 billion in grants have been approved to support local and state governments for recovery efforts such as debris removal and emergency protective measures. This funding continues to increase daily.

All of Florida's power and cellphone service have been restored to pre-storm levels as a result of the federal family's state, tribal and local partners working with the private sector. Thanks to their efforts, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Energy, close to 100% of power has been restored to impacted areas.

"Today marks 30 days since Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida," said FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. "The storm challenged us to balance a new response with an ongoing recovery-ensuring no survivor from either storm was left behind. It took immense coordination-and the entire federal family, at the direction of the Biden-Harris Administration, will continue to lean forward to support Floridians impacted by Debby, Milton or Helene."

Hurricane Milton made landfall just two weeks after Hurricane Helene. The hurricane affected several other Southeastern states resulting in presidential disaster declarations for Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

FEMA was ready to support Florida's immediate needs for all three hurricanes that impacted the state. FEMA had staff embedded in the state emergency operations centers prior to Hurricane Debby in August to facilitate state and federal coordination to the response of all three storms.

"Thanks to the federal family working with our emergency management partners across all of government and the private sector, Florida has taken enormous steps in a short period of time to recover from these three events," said Administrator Criswell. "Support for survivors is one of the Biden-Harris Administrations top priorities and we will continue to support Floridians for as long as it takes."

FEMA remains on the ground in Florida as part of this long-term commitment for the state's recovery. There are 19 Disaster Recovery Centers open where survivors can visit to receive in-person help from various state and federal agencies. There are also 460 Disaster Survivor Assistance team members going through affected neighborhoods to connect with survivors where they are about their needs and guide them to available federal resources.

More than 72,000 National Flood Insurance Program policyholders who had flood damage from Debby, Helene and Milton in Florida have filed claims. As of today, policyholders have received approximately $894 million to repair their properties and replace contents.

Assistance for survivors is still available. Information on applying for assistance if you were affected by multiple storms is available in a FEMA Fact Sheet. FEMA encourages people to apply for assistance in all affected states at DisasterAssistance.gov, by using the FEMA App, or by calling 1-800-621-3362. People can also receive in person application assistance at a local Disaster Recovery Center. Center locations can be found at FEMA.gov/DRC.

More information can be found on FEMA.gov.