Municipalities across Lee County are being given a 30-day reprieve to provide the federal government with the necessary documentation it needs to maintain good standing in the National Flood Insurance Program, WGCU has confirmed from sources with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Government leaders in unincorporated Lee County, Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs and Estero learned recently they were being severely down-graded and some 116,000 national flood insurance holders would no longer qualify any discounts from the program.
This would have an economic impact of tens of millions of dollars. If not corrected, the communities affected could be removed from the program.
To maintain good standing and be eligible for discounts — all local communities were receiving 25% discounts on premiums, while Estero policy holders were receiving 20% — communities each year have to prove to the government that it is going above and beyond minimum-federal flood standards.
In the local Lee cases, FEMA raised concerns that the governments had not taken the necessary measures to ensure residents severely impacted by Hurricane Ian were not rebuilding at ground level.
Betsy Clayton, a spokesperson for Lee County said the government is working on a web-page that will keep the community up-to-date on how it is coming along with collecting the necessary information for the federal government.
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