HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Officials in Hillsborough County are requesting community input on allocating over $700 million allocated for storm recovery efforts.
Elaine Belba lives in the Homes of Regency Cove, a mobile home community in Tampa.
“Our electric was out for over a month, and it kept going off and on,” she said.
Belba and her neighbors have continued feeling the impact of last year’s hurricanes, eight months later.
“We are a community of at least 400+ senior citizens, and we were very hard hit by both hurricanes,” she said.
Approximately 80 residents attended an evening session to understand how Hillsborough County plans to use $709 million in federal storm relief funds.
The plan designates $35 million for administrative costs, $5 million for planning, $360 million for housing initiatives, $107 million for infrastructure projects, $180 million for economic development, and $12 million for public services.
John Ray questioned why the county wasn’t prepared to handle the intense devastation of last hurricane season.
“Before the hurricane, did you ever plan for a hurricane to hit us?” he asked. “As a teacher, we had specific procedures. If there was a shooter on campus, we had to push that button.”
“Do we have a plan for an active shooter?” Assistant County Administrator Cheryl Howell responded. “Yes, we do.”
“But if 50 active shooters show up then the plan is difficult at best,” she continued. “When (there’s) two back-to-back, devastating hurricanes within a two-week period, then it’s difficult to manage that plan.”
At last week’s meeting, 8 On Your Side heard residents’ concerns.
“Ten million dollars for flood mitigation wouldn’t even cover this area,” one person said into the microphone during public comment.
So we took that issue straight to Howell.
News Channel 8 reporter Nicole Rogers asked, “To the people who say it’s not enough money, what would your response be?”
“I want to say, it’s a beginning,” she said. “It’s a beginning.”
“It’s a beginning of a process,” she clarified. “Restoration takes time and those are things we must endure.”
