WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Biden this week declared that an emergency exists for the Seminole Tribe of Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement the tribe’s response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Tropical Storm Nicole beginning on Nov. 7, 2022, and continuing.
The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate all disaster relief efforts, which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe for the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Emergency protective measures (Category B), including direct federal assistance, under the Public Assistance program will be provided at 75 percent federal funding.
Deanne Criswell, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Thomas J. McCool as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas.
