SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — It’s been nearly a year since the entire state experienced the devastating effects of Hurricane Ian, and many communities are still recovering from today.
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Florida has been gathering input from communities affected.
The state is also in the process of drafting an action plan outlining Florida’s strategy for using 910 million dollars in disaster recovery funding.
Florida Commerce is hosting a public meeting Thursday night to determine the community’s needs.
The meeting is part of the 30-day public comment period, and they will use the comments to tweak the states’ action plan.
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The goal is to listen to residents, business owners, and other stakeholders about what they experienced. It will be crucial in bringing millions of dollars to fix issues and prevent them from happening during future storms.
Seminole County saw a lot of flooding issues during Hurricane Ian in Sanford, the Altamonte Springs area, and along Lake Harney.
To help mitigate issues, Florida Commerce has been traveling to the state and holding meetings in 40 counties since May.
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Florida’s Secretary of Commerce, Alex Kelly, said housing has been a big deal among residents in all counties they have visited.
Kelly said some residents and business owners suffered damage in both Ian and Irma-- they plan to prioritize those cases.
“We’re charged with long-term recovery efforts,” he said. “If you think about residents who may have damaged their home, community infrastructure that may have been damaged, mitigation efforts to prevent things like flooding prevent that in the future-- We’re here to hear from residents.”
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The funds will go to address housing needs in Seminole County.
They will also be used to improve drainage and add water retention ponds.
“There’s clearly a need to either adjust how water flow goes through the neighborhood, possibly drainage issues, sewer, sewer issues-- so yeah, it’s a myriad of things that can cause that,” Kelly said.” If we spend the money wisely now, and we help mitigate these future issues, then really, you’ve really reduced the likelihood that homeowners will see that kind of impact again.”
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Orange and Volusia counties are two of four counties getting direct funding allocations from HUD, separate from the amount allocated to the state.
Orange County is set to get 219 million dollars and Volusia 328 million for disaster recovery and mitigation efforts.
The public hearing runs until 7 p.m. at the Seminole County Administration Building.
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