The federal government has funneled more than $1.2 billion into Florida over the last three months to help communities rebuild from a relentless string of recent hurricanes.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) dropped the latest chunk of change on Thursday, locking in an additional $124 million spread across 70 different recovery and flood-prevention projects. The cash infusion targets lingering infrastructure damage from Hurricanes Helene, Milton, Ian, Idalia, and Nicole.
Out of this new funding batch, nearly $117 million is earmarked for FEMA’s Public Assistance program, which pays for local emergency responses and fixes to public property. State agencies are getting the biggest slice—$87.3 million—to cover emergency management costs and repair battered state parks and beaches.
Local county and city governments are splitting up the rest of the infrastructure money for specific cleanup and repair bills:
- Manatee County: $5.5 million for emergency operations, judicial center roof repairs, and fixing the Kingfish Boat Ramp.
- Sarasota County: $5.3 million to repair the county administration building and a youth athletic complex.
- Escambia County: $2.1 million to reinforce a stormwater pumping facility.
- Charlotte County: More than $679,000 for stormwater system repairs.
- Cape Coral: More than $201,000 for City Hall repairs.
- Lee County School District: More than $206,000 to replace ruined equipment at South Fort Myers High School.
The remaining $7.5 million of the announcement is going toward future disaster prevention through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. This includes $4.3 million to physically elevate 12 homes across the state to protect them from rising floodwaters.
Another $1.6 million is headed to Seminole County for storm drain and sewer upgrades, while Cape Coral and Orlando will pull down a combined $1.4 million to fix up wastewater systems, lift stations, and backup generators.
This latest round of 70 projects caps off a massive 90-day stretch where FEMA has approved funding for more than 860 distinct recovery efforts across the state.
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