Hillsborough commissioners approve adding $57M to Hurricane Milton disaster fund

TAMPA, Fla. - The Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners approved adding $57 million to the Hurricane Milton disaster fund.

Commissioners voted unanimously to move $40 million from the Catastrophic Disaster Recovery Fund and $17 million from the BOCC FEMA COVID-19 Disaster Events Fund into the BOCC - FEMA Hurricane Milton Disaster Events Fund. The county said a total of $117 million has been transferred into the Milton disaster fund.

"This is the furthest we've ever been into a disaster event," Hillsborough County Director of Emergency Management Timothy Dudley said.

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Dudley said a lot of the new funding will go toward debris removal.

"Over 1.8 million cubic yards of debris have been removed," Dudley said. "We have a projection of 5.5 million throughout the entire county, so that's a substantial amount, between Helene and Milton, of debris that we have to move."

Dudley said they're hoping to remove 2.2 million cubic yards of debris in the first pass. The county said debris hauling crews will make more than one pass through the county.

"We still have some parts of the county that are still seeing floodwaters and a substantial amount of debris that are still in that area that still has to be captured once that waters recede," he said.

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He said the funding will also go towards transitional housing resources. Dudley said more than 200 businesses in the county reported impacts from the hurricanes, but they saw the most significant impact on residences.

"We currently have emergency transitional shelter still going on right now, where we're trying to help assist folks get into hotels," he said. "And, we're also looking at various funding that can look at the different types of housing."

On Wednesday, commissioners also unanimously approved an independent review of stormwater infrastructure and flood protection to determine whether there are any changes or improvements that need to be made. The review will be conducted by an independent contractor, who will document the flooding and community impacts from Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton, and look at long-term flood mitigation strategies.

The county said this independent contractor has done work with the county's public utilities department, but not the stormwater department. The review will be done in collaboration with the cities of Tampa, Plant City, Temple Terrace and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

Hillsborough Commissioner Joshua Wostal supported the independent review, but also said he wants the contractor to take into consideration the record amount of water the region got during these storms in a short period of time.

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"I think that everybody needs to manage expectations and that there might be a reality that there's no one to blame, because sometimes that happens, so I support whatever," Wostal said.

Hillsborough Commissioner Christine Miller, who also supported the review, said the county owes it to the people to do this investigation.

"To collect this data and have it for future boards that may have to make really tough decisions, I think, is why we're doing this," Miller said.

County officials said the process for the independent review can begin immediately. Dudley said they're moving as quickly as possible with the cleanup process, but it can't be finished overnight.

"This is going to take time," Dudley said. "Recovery is a long process."

The county hopes to have debris removal complete within the 90-day period after Milton, in order to get the costs fully reimbursed by FEMA. After the 90-day period, the county expects FEMA to reimburse about 87.5% of debris removal and emergency protective costs.

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