Hurricane Sally
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Hurricane Sally swept over the Florida panhandle, making landfall on September 16, 2020 as a Category 2 hurricane, and bringing heavy rainfall and flooding.
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that the state of Florida would receive Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding to support long-term recovery and mitigation efforts following Hurricane Sally. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) is the governor-designated state authority responsible for administering these funds. Working with Florida's impacted communities, DEO's Office of Long-Term Resiliency (OLTR) has developed an action plan to guide how this funding will address unmet recovery and mitigation needs following Hurricane Sally.
The HUD-approved Rebuild Florida programs for communities impacted by Hurricane Sally are listed below. Guidelines for each program can be accessed by following the program links:
Economic Revitalization Programs
- Rebuild Florida Hometown Revitalization Program ($13,513,850) - Designed to support the recovery of economic activity in commercial areas of Hurricane Sally-impacted towns and cities by facilitating the return and recovery of businesses, jobs, and provision of goods and services to the community.
- Rebuild Florida Workforce Recovery Training Program ($5,000,000) - Designed to provide funding opportunities for local workforce development boards, educational institutions and technical centers located in the communities most impacted by Hurricane Sally to train new workers in construction trades.
- Workforce Affordable Housing Construction Program ($25,000,000) - Designed to construct new affordable rental housing in areas impacted by Hurricane Sally.
Notice to all potential subrecipient applicants:
For all programs, applicants must provide proof of meeting the Public Notice Requirement as per the published program guidelines. Proposed projects must receive public input through one or both of the new public notice formats: a 14-day public comment period for project information posted to your public website, and/or a 10-day public comment period following hosting a public meeting. For full details regarding public notice requirements, please review the programs' guidelines.
Webinar
To provide potential applicants with more information about Rebuild Florida programs for Hurricane Sally, DEO hosted the Rebuild Florida Hurricane Sally Program Webinar on Thursday, February 2, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. EST. The webinar provided an overview on the programs, the application process, program guidelines, and information about the available programs. The webinar recording and slides are available below.
For additional webinar questions, please contact CDBG-DR@DEO.MyFlorida.com.
State Action Plan
DEO led the state's efforts in creating the federally required State Action Plan that provides a high-level strategy for how the funding will be used to address eligible communities' long-term recovery and mitigation needs. The State Action Plan was developed with input from state and community partners, as well as citizens, to determine the remaining long-term recovery needs and the most critical disaster mitigation needs.
The State Action Plan was posted for a 30-day public comment period beginning May 6, 2022 and ending June 6, 2022, during which comments were submitted on the State Action Plan. The State Action Plan, as approved by HUD, is below:
Eligible Counties
The five counties identified as Most Impacted and Distressed (MID) are eligible for Hurricane Sally CDBG-DR programs. In the aftermath of the storm, HUD identified one MID county (Escambia) and one MID zip code (32583) from which operations will extend to the entire county (Santa Rosa). The state of Florida identified an additional three MID counties (Bay, Okaloosa, and Walton).
Public Hearing
To provide more information on the next steps for the state of Florida, community partners, and local communities, DEO hosted virtual public hearings on May 24 and June 3 of 2022. Links to the public hearing transcripts and slide decks are available below:
- Tuesday, May 24, 2022 at 3:00-4:00 p.m. EDT, 2:00-3:00 p.m. CDT.
- Friday, June 3, 2022 at 10:00-11:00 a.m. EDT, 9:00-10:00 a.m. CDT.
Hurricane Sally Timeline
A timeline of Hurricane Sally DEO disaster recovery actions is below. The timeline will be updated with the most recent information as it becomes available.
- September 16, 2020: Hurricane Sally makes landfall.
- October 29, 2021: HUD announces that Florida will receive $113,191,000 in CDBG-DR funding to support long-term recovery in response to Hurricane Sally.
- February 3, 2022: HUD published the Federal Register guidance formally announcing the allocation of CDBG-DR funds and the regulations guiding the administration of these funds.
- March 2022: DEO begins analysis of unmet needs.
- March 22, 2022: HUD makes additional funding announcement that the State of Florida will receive an additional $74,192,000 to aid in recovery efforts following Hurricane Sally, for a total allocation of $187,383,000.
- May 6, 2022: DEO posted a draft of the State Action Plan for 30-day public comment period.
- May 24, 2022: As part of the development of the State Action Plan, DEO hosted a virtual public hearing to provide more information on the next steps for the state of Florida, community partners and local communities.
- June 6, 2022: 30-day public comment period ended.
- August 5, 2022: HUD approves the 2022 Action Plan for Disaster Recovery.
- January 18, 2023: Rebuild Florida Hurricane Sally Infrastructure Repair Program launched.
- January 24, 2023: Rebuild Florida Hurricane Sally Voluntary Home Buyout Program launched.
- February 14, 2023: Rebuild Florida Hurricane Sally Hometown Revitalization Program and Workforce Recovery Training Program launched.
Procurements and Solicitations
Quarterly Performance Reports to HUD
2022 Federal Register
The Federal Register provides guidance on HUD program requirements to state and local governments. Below are links to the Federal Register guidance applicable to funding associated with Hurricane Sally.