Federal, state funds still available help businesses recover from Ian - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

It’s been  roughly 2 months since Hurricane Ian made landfall successful Southwest Florida, bringing winds up to 140 mph and devastating  the region. 

According to FEMA, 25% of businesses volition neglect wrong 1 twelvemonth of a catastrophe and implicit 40% of tiny businesses ne'er reopen. In addition, 90% neglect if they don’t reopen speedy enough. For immoderate section companies, it whitethorn beryllium concern arsenic usual, and for others it whitethorn beryllium a overmuch longer betterment that could instrumentality years. It is estimated that determination whitethorn beryllium up to $70 cardinal successful losses statewide. The clip is present for the Sarasota County concern assemblage to rally unneurotic to measurement the section concern impact.

The Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County stands acceptable to supply accusation and resources to assistance each section businesses determination guardant to recovery, and becoming much resilient and sustainable post-Ian. Your assistance is imperative successful ensuring that national and authorities dollars are deployed to assistance concern betterment implicit the agelong term. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and the State Emergency Response Team activated the Business Damage Assessment Survey to find the totality of the concern impact, some carnal and economic. Information gathered from this survey allows the authorities to expedite tempest betterment efforts, including further backing focused connected businesses, and provides cardinal accusation to thrust betterment strategies.

This is wherever you travel in. To guarantee that the Sarasota County concern assemblage gets the indispensable resources for tempest betterment and resiliency, it is imperative that businesses impacted by the hurricane instrumentality the online survey astatine floridadisaster.biz/BusinessDamageAssessments without delay.

While the concern is inactive unfolding, Hurricane Ian volition person important short- and semipermanent impacts connected Sarasota County businesses and their employees. There are astir 27,000 registered concern successful Sarasota County and each 1 is simply a captious portion of the economy.

The EDC has launched a telephone halfway connected behalf of Sarasota County Government and our squad is reaching retired to businesses and asking them to implicit the survey. The EDC squad is besides acceptable to assistance businesses implicit the survey by phone. If immoderate concern needs assistance, delight telephone 941-309-1200 oregon email info@edcsarasotacounty.com.

So far, implicit $50 cardinal successful damages person been reported by Sarasota County, galore businesses program impermanent layoffs, and immoderate are considering whether to reopen. These factors tin beryllium a superior workforce issue as economists foretell tens of thousands of radical volition record for unemployment benefits aft the storm. We cognize from erstwhile disasters that aft evacuations, galore workers ne'er instrumentality and others whitethorn determine to permission the country each together, starring to longer-term economical impacts and recovery.

It is paramount that the section concern assemblage receives the further funding, resources and assistance it needs to retrieve and determination forward. We impulse you to implicit the survey contiguous and assistance guarantee a robust and increasing economy.

Erin Silk is main operations serviceman for the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County.