FEMA aid approved for Florida residents in counties hit by Milton
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A damaged mobile home park after Hurricane Milton in St. Petersburg. Photo: Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Tampa Bay residents and others across Florida whose homes and property were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Milton can now apply for aid through FEMA's direct assistance program.
Why it matters: The federal aid — which includes includes grants for temporary housing and repairs for uninsured damage — provides a financial lifeline after natural disasters.
- You can apply at disasterassistance.gov.
- Residents of 34 counties in Florida — including the entire Tampa Bay region — are eligible to apply for aid.
The big picture: Florida, Louisiana and Texas residents have received the lion's share of FEMA direct assistance since 2015, per newly gathered data.
- The numbers illustrate Americans' urgent financial needs in the immediate aftermath of natural disasters, and reflect the toll of storms like 2017's Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Zoom out: The map above shows the total amount given to recipients in each U.S. state as part of FEMA's Individuals and Households Program (IHP) between January 2015 and April 2024.
- It's based on data collected by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and assembled into the "Disaster Dollar Database."
How it works: IHP is meant as an immediate financial lifeline for people whose lives have been upended by natural disasters, not as an insurance replacement.
- The average IHP award over the covered time frame was about $5,700, and around 40% of applicants were deemed eligible.
Zoom in: People in Florida have been given more than $2.5 billion in IHP funds for a dozen incidents since 2015, per the data.
- That includes more than $82 million for last year's Hurricane Idalia alone, with an average award of about $2,300.