Obama Signs Disaster Declaration For Counties Damaged by Isaac

Remember Tropical Storm Isaac? What a pain in the ass storm that was. It was particularly damaging to Palm Beach County, which got smacked harder by Ike than Miami-Dade or Broward, leaving more than 8 to 10 inches of rain in the southeast part of the county, damaging schools, homes and...

By Chris Joseph

October 19, 2012

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Remember Tropical Storm Isaac? What a pain in the ass storm that was.

It was particularly damaging to Palm Beach County, which got smacked harder by Ike than Miami-Dade or Broward, leaving more than 8 to 10 inches of rain in the southeast part of the county, damaging schools, homes and leaving 54,000 people without power.

But government relief is on the way after President Barack Obama signed a "disaster declaration" for all Florida counties (yes, especially for Palm Beach) according to a statement from FEMA.

The statement says that Obama has declared that "a major disaster exists in the State of Florida and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by Hurricane Isaac during the period of August 27-29, 2012." And that funds will be available to "state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by Hurricane Isaac in the counties of Bay, Collier, Escambia, Franklin, Gulf, Martin, Monroe, Okaloosa, Palm Beach, St. Lucie, and Santa Rosa."

The statement doesn't go in to how much exactly will be coming in (or how much was requested). Federal emergency managers rejected Palm Beach County's request for disaster relief last month, which was about a $26.8 million request for damage and expenses.

Rick Scott has since said he would appeal the rejection.

W. Craig Fugate, FEMA's administrator (and former Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management), said that the that damage from Isaac was not severe enough to warrant federal assistance. At least not 28 million.

It was unclear why the decision about the declaration was reversed, but federal aid is now on its way.

Better late than never, we guess.

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