Tallahassee City Commission to consider storm response fund in upcoming year's budget

After widespread damage from tornadoes spawned by May 10 storms and amid what's predicted to be a brutal hurricane season , the City of Tallahassee now is looking into setting up its own storm response fund.

City commissioners will be meeting June 19 for one of several budget workshops. According to the agenda, they won't be talking only about the $50 million the city has poured into recovery from the tornadoes, but also the idea of creating a somewhat literal rainy day fund for storm response and debris removal.

The agenda item briefly mentions that the city "must ensure (that) financial capacity exists to respond and protect citizen life and property."

"The severity, timing, and impact of natural weather events is unpredictable," the agenda item states. "Without proper planning and adequate reserves, the City's ability to respond to such events is in jeopardy."

The idea behind the proposed fund is to reduce strain on the city's general fund, though it's unclear for now how the storm fund would work in practice and how it would be paid for.

"The damage caused by the tornadoes that struck Tallahassee on May 10th, two with winds between 111-135 miles per hour, caused unprecedented debris, power loss, and building damage in the span of just 36 minutes – totaling $50 million in recovery expenses," city staffers wrote in an analysis noting that the city experienced the strongest winds our area has seen in recent history during these tornadoes.

"While wind speeds and peak wind gusts during past hurricanes have not reached the level of the tornadoes, the potential for a Category 3, 4, or 5 hurricane (defined as sustained winds between 111 – 157 mph+) to directly strike Tallahassee is possible given experts' predictions of a supercharged 2024 storm season. "

"Sustained winds of this level churning over Tallahassee for multiple hours create a significant risk for catastrophic damages that would far exceed those seen during the May 10th tornado event."

Where are the FEMA funds?

Also still unclear is the status of payments from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.

The process for reimbursement is a multi-step process :

From the moment a natural disaster strikes, FEMA and local officials conduct preliminary damage assessment, effects on individuals and public facilities and the types of federal assistance needed.

From there, the information is passed off to the state's governor, who makes a disaster declaration request to the president. It's not known whether Gov. Ron DeSantis has made that request for the May 10 storm damage; a request for information is pending with his office.

Moreover, FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund could run out of money by August , according to their monthly fund reports .

Though it could activate its Immediate Needs Funding program starting in July, which means they will only fund major disaster efforts, which would "deprioritize" other obligations. And that means Tallahassee aid could get put on the back burner.

It won't be the first time the city has had to wait for FEMA funding. According to the workshop agenda, the city is still out nearly $4.5 million in FEMA funds for reimbursements for Hurricanes Hermine , Irma and Michael .

City damage by the numbers

The damage estimates provided by the city to FEMA as recoverable expenses show the cost of each of the natural disasters that have rocked Tallahassee in recent years. Here's a breakdown.

• 2016 Hurricane Hermine- $13.6 million

• 2017 Hurricane Irma- $4 million

• 2018 Hurricane Michael- $27.9 million

• 2023 Hurricane Idalia- $4.2 million (estimated)

• 2024 tornado outbreak- $50 million (estimated)

If you go

• The Tallahassee City Budget Workshop will begin at 1 p.m. in City Hall, 300 S. Adams St.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee City Commission will consider creating storm response fund