Tropical Storm Debby was hovering in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida Sunday morning. Image via the National Hurricane Center.
Drew Dixon August 4, 2024 4 min
A majority of Florida counties are now eligible for federal disaster assistance from Tropical Storm Debby damage.
President Joe Biden declared an emergency in Florida resulting from Tropical Storm Debby, ordering federal assistance to supplement state, tribal, and local response efforts. Officials expect emergency conditions to continue for several days.
The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures,” the declaration stated.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has also issued a state of emergency declaration and said at a Sunday morning briefing in Tallahassee, “We are absolutely going to see a lot of rainfall, saturation, flooding events, and power outages.”
As of 8 a.m. Sunday, Debby was centered about 155 miles southwest of Tampa with sustained winds of 50 mph and gusts up to 60 mph. The National Hurricane Center forecasts that the storm will continue to move northwest at about 13 mph and could land in Florida’s Big Bend area Tuesday morning. The system is expected to strengthen to a Category 1 hurricane Sunday afternoon while it is still in the Gulf of Mexico.
Biden’s emergency declaration authorizes under Title V of the Stafford Act, “to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe.”
Public assistance emergency protective measures provide limited to direct federal assistance and reimbursement for mass care, including evacuation and shelter support at 75% federal funding for the counties of Alachua, Baker, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Franklin, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hendry, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Monroe, Nassau, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Putnam, Sarasota, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, and Wakulla.
Public assistance emergency protective measures provide limited to direct federal assistance at 75% federal funding for the counties of Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Calhoun, DeSoto, Escambia, Flagler, Gadsden, Glades, Hardee, Highlands, Holmes, Jackson, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Orange, Polk, Santa Rosa, Seminole, St. Johns, Volusia, Walton, and Washington.
John E. Brogan of FEMA has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas.
Information provided by The Associated Press was used in this report.
