FEMA offers full reimbursement for debris removal and emergency measures post-Helene, Milton

After Helene made landfall, FSU/FAMU mobilized to help rescue operations. Image via FSU’s Center for Disaster Risk Policy.

The federal government is committing to total reimbursement for local work in the wake of Hurricane Helene and Milton.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is offering 100% cost coverage for debris removal and emergency measures. The announcement covers “direct federal assistance for a period of 120 days of the state’s choosing within the first 180 days from the start of the incident period.”

The major disaster declaration previously “made federal funding available for public assistance, the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and other needs assistance for total eligible costs,” FEMA added.

Debris removal was an issue after Hurricane Helene in part because Hurricane Milton followed directly in its tracks. Local governments on the Gulf Coast were challenged by the quick turnaround, leading Gov. Ron DeSantis to command Florida’s Department of Emergency Management (DEM) to “commandeer” efforts to get garbage out before the second storm slammed in.

The “challenges,” said DEM head Kevin Guthrie, regarded contracts with debris haulers going unfulfilled and “vendors and especially subcontractors that may chase the money then leave.”

“And there’s sometimes where you have the local governments; they don’t want to pay for it even though they’ll get reimbursed and this and that,” DeSantis said as Milton approached.

Milton created further impacts, including for fiscally constrained local governments.

Helene landed in the Big Bend on Sept. 26, with its maximum winds of 140 mph, after its bands whipped the west coast of the state. Milton hit Siesta Key, also at 140 MPH, on Oct. 9.