Hurricane

First FEMA trailers arrive in the Keys for people who lost their homes to Irma

FEMA-approved travel trailers were delivered to the Florida Keys on Wednesday to help families displaced by Hurricane Irma.
FEMA-approved travel trailers were delivered to the Florida Keys on Wednesday to help families displaced by Hurricane Irma.

The first FEMA trailers arrived in Key West on Wednesday, awaiting eligible Monroe County residents who cannot return to their homes due to the devastation Hurricane Irma left.

So far, FEMA has approved through individual assistance 84 travel trailers for Keys survivors of the storm.

“This is great news,” said Christine Hurley, the Monroe County Assistant County Administrator, at Wednesday’s county commission meeting.

Hurley has been leading the recovery for Monroe County Emergency Management in the wake of Irma, which roared across the Keys Sept. 10, leaving the Middle and Lower Keys hardest hit but Key West largely unscathed.

She said the next goal is for FEMA to install the trailers on pads. The trailers will become inhabitable as soon as they’re hooked up to utilities.

These trailers may be put on approved private property sites or at six larger sites for a number of trailers that have been approved by the Army Corps of Engineers and sent to FEMA for that agency’s approval, said Cammy Clark, the county spokeswoman.

Gwen Filosa: @KeyWestGwen

This story was originally published September 28, 2017 at 7:34 AM with the headline "First FEMA trailers arrive in the Keys for people who lost their homes to Irma."

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