President Joe Biden declared that an emergency exists in the state of Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state, tribal, and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Tropical Storm Debby and continuing through the next several days.
The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), "to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures," the declaration stated.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has also issued a state of emergency declaration and at a Sunday morning briefing in Tallahassee said, "We are absolutely going to see a lot of rainfall. We are going to see a lot of saturation. We are going to see flooding events. That is going to happen. There is also going to be power outages."
As of 8 a.m. Sunday, Debby was centered about 155 miles southwest of Tampa with sustained winds of 50 mph and gusts up to 60 mph. The National Hurricane Center forecast the storm is expected to continue to move northwest at about 13 mph and could make landfall in Florida's Big Bend area Tuesday morning. The system is expected to strengthen to a Category 1 hurricane Sunday afternoon while it is still int he Gulf of Mexico.
Biden's declaration of emergency authorizes under Title V of the Stafford Act, "to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe."
Public Assistance emergency protective measures, limited to direct federal assistance and reimbursement for mass care including evacuation and shelter support will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding for the counties of Alachua, Baker, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Franklin, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hendry, Hernando, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Monroe, Nassau, Osceola, Pasco, Pinellas, Putnam, Sarasota, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, and Wakulla.
Public Assistance emergency protective measures, limited to direct Federal assistance will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding for the counties of Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Calhoun, DeSoto, Escambia, Flagler, Gadsden, Glades, Hardee, Highlands, Holmes, Jackson, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Orange, Polk, Santa Rosa, Seminole, St. Johns, Volusia, Walton, and Washington.
John E. Brogan of FEMA has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas.
Information provided by the Associated Press was used in this report.
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