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“All day long, we were able to take that dazed, confused, sometimes angry home owner and send them off with head and hands full of information, and a new found optimism that things will get better,” said Mike Hickman, president of the state home builders association.
Hickman said that OPERATION BUILD will next be held in Polk County and then travel to the state’s east coast and panhandle.
The state association is a partner in the Disaster Contractors Network, which is a key information resource for contractors and home owners involved in hurricane clean-up activities.
Initial FEMA reports of the damage from Hurricane Ivan estimated that 50%-75% of the structures along the coastline in Florida’s Escambia County were severely damaged or destroyed, leaving roughly 20,000 residents at least temporarily homeless.
Disaster declarations for federal assistance were issued for 32 counties in Alabama, 23 counties in Mississippi and 13 parishes in Louisiana. Ivan’s path of destruction extended northward, bringing high winds, heavy rains and tornadoes. Disaster areas were also declared in Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
Floridians were only beginning to assess damage from a fourth storm to make landfall — Huricane Jeanne — as this issue of NBN went to press.
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