Highlands Likely Will Not Qualify For FEMA Help

Neighboring Okeechobee was one of four counties declared major disaster areas Sunday by President George W. Bush in the wake of Tropical Storm Fay, but it's unlikely that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will help any homeowners in Highlands County.

Emergency Management Director Bill Nichols said the state needed approximately $22 million in damages, and Highlands County needs at least 25 uninsured homes damaged before the county could get Gov. Charlie Crist to ask for such assistance. By Monday, only five or six homes in Highlands County qualified for FEMA assistance in the county.

"Even if we had the 25 homes, the state as a whole doesn't qualify," Nichols added. "I saw we were at $15 (million).... Right now, it doesn't look good."

Homeowners in the four counties with the disaster declarations shouldn't expect FEMA to immediately offer assistance to homeowners, either.

Jim Homstad, a spokesman from FEMA's Florida Recovery Office in Lake Mary, said these declarations only provide "public assistance," which only provides money to county and local government to repair damaged infrastructure and public buildings.

He also said that FEMA examined the damages in 13 counties, including Okeechobee and Glades, and was currently looking at four others. Highlands County was not among them. It is possible that more counties could be declared disaster areas, but he declined to comment on the probability of Highlands being declared one.

Locally, Arbuckle Creek and the Kissimmee River flooded, causing a still-undetermined amount of damage to Neibert's Fishing Resort east of Sebring and to the Kissimmee River Estates just west of the Okeechobee County line. Wind damages were minimal countywide. Homstad said that Okeechobee County's disaster declaration would have no bearing on Kissimmee River Estates.

FEMA offers assistance only if the local and state governments are overwhelmed during an emergency.

Nichols wanted anyone with Tropical Storm Fay-related damages to report it to the EOC, at 385-1112, if their property is not insured.

Agricultural Impacts

Local agricultural experts said it would take a while before they know the extent of damage Fay's torrential rains did to the county's crops and nurseries.

John Alleyne, the director of the University of Florida's Highlands County Extension Office, said the county didn't technically have any agricultural damages yet, but he has heard that at least one citrus grove in Lorida was still under heavy water Monday.

If the water doesn't subside in a few days, some important crops might die, Alleyne said.

Other experts believed that the county's agricultural sector suffered only minimal damages, if any.

"I don't think they're going to get any fruit loss," said Ray Royce of the Highlands County Growers Association, referring to the citrus groves. He did add that root rotting could be an issue throughout the southern and southeastern parts of the county if it remains flooded too much longer.

Southeast Milk Inc. President Joe Wright said that could also hurt the beef cows, since many low-lying pastures are still flooded north of Okeechobee and the grass could possibly "drown."

Dairy cows, meanwhile, may end up getting sick from the torrential rainfalls, but otherwise Fay didn't create any of the wind that wrecked his dairy after hurricanes Charley and Jeanne, so Wright wasn't worried.

"Compared to the 2004 hurricanes, it was a piece of cake," he said.