FEMA Individual Assistance Approved for Escambia and Santa Rosa After Hurricane Isaias — How to Apply
Households in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties damaged by Hurricane Isaias can now seek federal help with housing, home repairs and other disaster needs, after FEMA approved Individual Assistance for eight Panhandle counties on Thursday.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management announced on Thursday, October 29, that FEMA Individual Assistance has been approved for eight counties hit by Hurricane Isaias: Bay, Escambia, Gulf, Holmes, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton and Washington. The assistance provides federal resources for housing, home repairs and other disaster-related needs, the division said, as reported by the Pensacola News Journal.
Residents in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties can apply online at DisasterAssistance.gov, through the FEMA app, by phone at 1-800-621-3362, or in person. The approval follows the October 27 major disaster declaration for Florida, FEMA-4955-DR, which first opened Public Assistance — reimbursement for emergency work and repairs to disaster-damaged public facilities — for 15 counties including Escambia and Santa Rosa, while household assistance remained under review.
Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin on October 9 as a Category 2 storm, and its incident period ran October 6 to 12. Insurance claims tell the scale of the damage in the Pensacola area: more than 26,000 Isaias claims have been filed in Santa Rosa County, the highest count in Florida, and nearly 17,000 in Escambia County, according to figures from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported by the News Service of Florida. Households that were underinsured, or whose losses insurance does not cover, are the residents Individual Assistance is designed to reach.
