TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced $300 million in disbursements for the Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan, funding more projects to address flooding and storm surge concerns in coastal and inland areas as hurricane season continues.
The money’s going toward three previously awarded projects and to 71 new ones, with four located in Central Florida, DeSantis’ office said in a statement.
DeSantis in June signed the state’s latest budget, granting the $300 million — of which $121 million was drawn from the general revenue fund and $179 million came from the Resilient Florida Trust Fund, according to SB 2500 as enrolled by the Legislature — to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
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Of the $300 million for the 74 projects, one project in Brevard County and three in Seminole County represent Central Florida’s portion, taking $11,169,610 among them:
- Brevard County (sponsor: City of Cape Canaveral) — Center Street Drainage Basin Improvements — $467,500
- Seminole County (self-sponsored) — Willow Avenue - Alhambra North of Lake Harriet Drainage Improvements — $2,588,676
- Seminole County (self-sponsored) — Nebraska Avenue Bridge Replacement — $918,934
- Seminole County (self-sponsored) — Historic Midway Community Flood Resilience and Adaptation — $7,194,500
Seminole County officials have said it may take years to fully recover from the flooding sustained in Hurricane Ian, with county Emergency Manager Alan Harris telling us in February that Ian could end up costing the county as much as $330 million across the board.
“That includes all the cities, our non-profit faith-based organizations and individuals,” Harris said. “For the county alone, for county government alone, it’s right at $38 million. So that includes some of our infrastructure that was lost as well as personnel costs, things like opening up shelters and sandbag locations.”
Brevard County, too, saw major impacts from hurricanes Ian and Nicole. Many of Florida’s coastal communities in general were threatened in a one-two punch as Ian’s floods hit the landscape and Nicole’s erosion took bites of it.
In Orange County, Commissioner Mike Scott recently reassured residents of Orlo Vista — a neighborhood that took on significant flooding during Hurricane Ian, as well as in 2017′s Hurricane Irma — that the governor’s veto of funding meant for a 2026 flooding mitigation project there would not affect the planned 2024 completion of another project already in progress.
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