Southwest Florida residents may get to keep their discount flood insurance rates after all, as discussions between local governments and FEMA revealed a series of “miscommunications.”
In March, the federal agency informed five communities in Lee County, including the county itself, that their shoddy rebuilding practices after Hurricane Ian’s catastrophic hit in September 2023 meant the communities were at risk of losing their discounts on federal flood insurance — as much as 25% in annual premiums. The communities protested, calling it a “late, devastating blow” and casting FEMA as a “villain.” Both of Florida’s senators wrote letters admonishing the agency.
In a series of meetings that followed, FEMA and the governments appeared to realize the situation was not as black and white as either had initially imagined. FEMA may actually already have many of the documents it requested from the communities, and the communities seem to have misunderstood the terminology FEMA staffers used to request certain documents.
The result, so far, has been a handful of 30-day extensions before FEMA makes its final call on whether the communities get to keep their flood insurance discounts. The discounts in question affect about 115,000 policyholders, who could pay around $300 extra for their annual premiums starting Oct. 1 if the punishment stands.
FEMA did not respond to requests for comment. Lee County, Estero, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach all have until June 10 to submit all requested documents. Dave Harner, Lee County’s manager, told the Herald that weekly meetings between FEMA representatives and the five communities have helped everyone understand the issues and work together to solve them. “FEMA said that may have been a gap that happened and now we’re rectifying that gap through the meetings we’re having,” he said. “We ultimately believe we have the documentation.”
FEMA also provided extra staff to help Lee County find and share the documents the agency asked for, which Harner cited as one of the major problems that may have led to the mix-up in the first place. “The big issue is you’re dealing with the third biggest storm in the country’s history and you’re dealing with a massive manpower issue,” he said. “We need upwards of 600 people to do an evaluation across the county. We don’t have that, the state didn’t have that.” Lee County has a list of 414 properties that FEMA had questions about; Cape Coral has 207; Bonita Springs has 106; Fort Myers Beach has 105.
The other communities in FEMA’s crosshairs said they were “working hard” to comply with all the agency’s requests ahead of the deadline. However, none of the other communities would confirm whether or not they thought they could retain their flood insurance discounts. “It’s not appropriate for me to speculate on FEMA’s decision,” wrote Melissa Mickey, spokesperson for the city of Cape Coral.