Saturday, November 2, 2024

Miami-Dade urges residents, businesses to fill out flood damage survey for possible aid

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Miami-Dade County is urging residents and businesses affected by last week’s flooding to fill out a survey that could help connect the affected with services or resources.

The county announced the damage assessment survey tool Wednesday. It is available here.

“Survey responses will allow the state to expedite flooding recovery efforts by gathering data and assessing the needs of affected businesses and residents in our County,” Natalia Jaramillo, the communications director for the office of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, wrote in a news release. “Even though participation in this survey process is voluntary, we encourage all those affected to participate as this information is vital for local, state, and federal partners to assess the overall impact this rain event had on our area and to strategize further and coordinate resource allocation for this and future events.”

This survey is not a way to file insurance claims, the county said. 

If you are unable to access the site, call 311.

Strong, persistent storms dumped up to 20 inches of rain in South Florida on Tuesday, June 11 and Wednesday, June 12, and showers continued until the weekend. 

Elderly residents and families had to be rescued from high water in North Miami as authorities opened shelters and deployed pumps to help drain the flooding. In Hollywood, dozens of vehicles were abandoned after stalling out in flood waters that turned roads into rivers.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis DeSantis said in a news conference last week that the level of residential damage assessed up to that point did not amount to enough damage to qualify for a federal disaster declaration through FEMA, but that some assistance could be available for small businesses that have been impacted.

Businesses like Pacesetter Academy Daycare in Miramar said then that they could benefit from the assistance discussed in the conference. The daycare was forced to shut down after flood water entered some of the classrooms.

“Some of our staff was cleaning; we have maintenance; we are also vacuuming all the water out, we have the carpet, all of our classrooms have carpet, so that was an issue for us also,” Tatiana Charry, Pacesetter Academy Daycare manager, said.  

Small businesses outside of Miami-Dade County can still fill out the state’s survey here.

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