Residental storm damage not enough to apply for federal assistance, said Gov. DeSantis
MIAMI - Although more rain could trigger additional isolated flooding on Friday,the strong, persistent storms that dumped up to 20 inches on South Florida appear to have passed.
Some neighborhood streets in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas still have standing water, although it is rapidly receding, officials said.
During a stop at a fire station in Hollywood, Gov. Ron DeSantis said while more rain was coming, it was likely to be more typical of South Florida afternoon showers this time of year.
"We are going to get some more rain today, maybe throughout the balance of the weekend. Hopefully it's not approaching the levels that it was, but we have a lot of resources staged here and we'll be able to offer the state's assistance," he said.
DeSantis said the state has deployed about 100 pumps in addition to what cities and counties are using to try to clear water from streets.
Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said while flooding was extensive, there were no reports of destroyed homes and very few of severely damaged homes. No deaths or serious injuries have been reported.
"We don't think there's going to be enough damage to necessarily qualify for a federal disaster declaration," DeSantis said. "But there may be enough damage with small businesses because the threshold is different so we can unlock some assistance for small businesses"
Guthrie agreed.
"We may be able to be eligible for a Small Business Administration declaration. We would have to be probably in the neighborhood of needing about 1,000 homes damaged with major or destroyed damage and we just don't have that. We certainly should be qualified for SBA disaster declaration"
Damage assessments are still being done. Officials said they don't have any reports of homes that are completely destroyed at this time.
