Hurricane Helene

Kelly Gaylord is president of the Punta Gorda Historic Mural Society. She has muralist Keith Goodson on speed dial. She calls him whenever one of the Society’s murals fails. She’s had to call him a lot. The Society has lost a number of its murals over the course of its 31-year history. So, Punta Gorda, which has given itself the nickname of “Mural Town,” has decided not to paint murals on buildings or walls any longer. “We decided all our future murals were going to be removable aluminum panels with mural cloth,” said Gaylord.

Multiple storms have swept homes out of a North Carolina trailer park, but new residents continue to move to those same flood-prone plots.

The day before Hurricane Ian, there were well over 150 businesses on Sanibel-Captiva Island. Not one was open the day after the storm. But island vibe helps several Sanibel shops, stores and restaurants weather string of hurricanes and slow summer sales.

The funding from FEMA is meant to support more than 50 recovery and hazard mitigation projects in Florida communities affected by Hurricanes Helene, Milton and other past disasters.

Income-eligible homeowners seeking assistance to repair, replace or reconstruct property that was damaged by Hurricane Helene and/or Milton have until March 31 to file applications to LeeCares before the application portal closes.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency this week said it spent about $11 billion helping people and communities recover from back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024. Nearly $8 billion of that went to pay claims at the National Flood Insurance Program

Sarasota County Capital Projects has made temporary repairs to Manasota Key Road and the road is now open to traffic.

There is some relief for the many Southwest Florida business owners still navigating hurricane insurance claims and facing urgent rebuilding needs.Just in time for Small Business Week (May 4-10), the Small Business Administration has extended a critical 60-day grace period for Hurricane Helene and Milton survivors to apply for disaster recovery assistance.

IRS deadline for filing federal taxes for 2024 extended for all Florida counties.

Sarasota County’s Resilient SRQ program has released its draft action plan for public review, outlining proposed uses for $210 million in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds. These funds will support long-term recovery efforts following Tropical Storm Debby and Hurricanes Helene and Milton.