Some homes are still underwater in Pasco County, and officials are still busy assessing the damage.
FEMA will begin its joint damage assessment with the county on Thursday.
“We do a visual inspection of the most impacted homes, the water line gives an indication of the water receding,” said Pasco County Fire Inspector, Christina Wine.
Inspectors like Wine are still assessing homes to check the flood damage. Water has receded in the Bass Lake area of New Port Richey Monday, but the problems continue.
So far the county has tallied 50 homes that are destroyed, 36 with major damage, and 172 with minor damage. Those numbers are expected to rise.
The county has already spent millions of dollars responding to calls about flooding and fixing roads.
Last weeks emergency declaration made food, water, and supplies immediately available but financial assistance will have to come from FEMA.
“There’s two types of funding, there’s reimbursement, the county can get reimbursements for roads and other monies that were spent during this disaster,” said the county’s spokesperson, Doug Tobin.
For that to happen the county has to reach a certain dollar amount in damage, but it’s different for residents. “There isn’t a threshold as far as citizen help is concerned, but they do want to take a look at the damage to see the impact that it has had and that’s a decision FEMA will have to make,” said Tobin.
Unfortunately, the county says for those who don’t have flood insurance they won’t get anything unless that happens.
Monday several state representatives including Gus Bilirakis sent a letter to FEMA asking it to declare a federal disaster in the Tampa Bay Area. It also asked for it to provide immediate relief.