Trump approves federal money for Palm Beach County’s Hurricane Dorian response

WEST PALM BEACH -- Palm Beach County and its 39 municipalities can be reimbursed by the federal government for its response to Hurricane Dorian.

President Donald Trump approved a major disaster declaration for the state of Florida on Tuesday. The declaration makes federal dollars available to the state government, certain nonprofits and 12 counties including Palm Beach County.

Meanwhile, a post-Dorian analysis by Palm Beach County officials spotted needs to address for the next storm.

The report, which summarizes the county's response while identifying strengths and weaknesses, found five areas of improvement. These included damage assessment training, adding Spanish and Creole menus for those calling the Emergency Information Center and using one model to predict the arrival times of tropical storm force winds.

Although Dorian stalled out over the Bahamas -- 100 miles from the county's coast -- before turning north and sparing Florida from a direct hit, local governments are still claiming hurricane-related expenses.

Countywide Dorian-related expense were projected to rise to $13.4 million as of late September, despite there being little damage and scant power outages from the storm. Palm Beach County estimated it spent $7.4 million for protective measures, which are actions taken before, during or after a storm to "eliminate or lessen immediate threats" to people and property, according to FEMA.

Lake Worth tallied a total of $2.7 million and Boynton Beach provided an estimated cost of $1.6 million. Only 28 of the 39 municipalities offered estimated or confirmed costs to the county's emergency management division.

In comparison, Hurricane Matthew in 2016 came within 63 miles of West Palm Beach and caused "minor damage," which Palm Beach County estimated to cost $7.7 million, according to its post-storm analysis. More people evacuated and lost power during that storm three years ago this month.

Federal disaster assistance isn't just eligible for debris removal or repairing facilities caused by a disaster. Protective measures also apply, which include costs related to the Emergency Operations Center, emergency sheltering, medical care and public service announcements.

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Palm Beach County officials began monitoring Dorian on Aug. 27, a day before it became a hurricane and before Florida declared a state of emergency, according to a report obtained by The Palm Beach Post. The county issued its own state of emergency on Aug. 29 and extended it twice.

As Hurricane Dorian had upgraded to a Category 5 storm on Sept. 1, the county's Emergency Operations Center fully activated and 11 shelters were opened that afternoon. Mandatory evacuations were issued for the nearly 65,000 residents living in Zones A and B. Just 3,115 people and 115 pets evacuated to the shelters.

The Emergency Information Center also received more than 9,500 calls from residents.

The storm's passing didn't end the county's response.

Officials met evacuees who sailed on a humanitarian cruise from The Bahamas at the Port of Palm Beach on Sept. 7, spending more than $400,000 on that response despite cruise officials saying it wasn't needed.

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