First step complete in Lee County keeping FEMA flood discount

After Hurricane Ian, Lee County officials said they expanded every resource to help our neighbors recover and be more resilient.

But resources ran out, and the county said it became clear federal and state regulations, policies and procedures were not designed for a storm as severe and widespread as Hurricane Ian.

• READ MORE: Getting an inside look at the FEMA discount controversy

“Thirty percent of Lee County is in a special flood hazard,” said county manager Dave Harner.

Harner said they had two options for rebuilding per FEMA guidelines.

Option one: They go out assess and tell people what they have to do in their specific case.

“So there is not enough staff,” said Harner. “The state didn’t have enough staff. They weren’t unable to fill requests, not only to the county but the municipalities to go out and do those initial assessments.”

Option two: people assess and then go to the county to apply for permits.

The process seemed to work until FEMA said rules were being broken and threatened to take away residents’ 25% discount on flood insurance.

In a summary of the city compliance, they say the inaccurate conclusion from FEMA came from “miscommunication and overlooked documentation.”

“As of yesterday we have completed and turned in all of our documentation,” said Harner during the meeting.

The information on 414 properties was chosen at random by FEMA.

WINK News reporter Liz Biro asked Harner how confident he was that people would not lose their discount now that the paperwork was submitted.

“I will tell you that we’re working very closely with FEMA on the documentation where we feel very comfortable that we have a very good program and that we are in compliance,” said Harner.

As of Tuesday, the village of Estero is the only one to not have all their documents in, but they told WINK News the documents will be in before the June 10 deadline.

After that, FEMA has 30 days to make a decision.