Fort Myers Beach and other municipalities across Lee County have until December 7th to receive 100 percent reimbursement from FEMA for debris pickup. If you’ve been on Fort Myers Beach recently you know that the debris cleanup will take a lot longer.
Mayor Dan Allers says after December 7th the town will have to pickup 5% of the cost and the state will cover 5%. FEMA will cover 90%. It’s not clear yet how long the 90/10 split will be in effect. You may recall when President Biden visited Fort Myers Beach he recognized that much more time would be needed for the cleanup and he said so publicly.
In the meantime, Lee County is closing two of its public drop-off sites for debris on Friday, December. 9th. The sites are Brooks Park, 50 South Road, Fort Myers
Mosquito Control and 1840 Gunnery Road, Lehigh Acres. These sites opened to residents less than a week after Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida to allow free disposal to those who chose to self-haul storm debris.
Lee County’s remaining two sites will continue to operate through Wednesday, Dec. 21. They are: San Carlos Utility Site, 18078 Cypress Point Road, Fort Myers and Shell Factory, 2805 N. Tamiami Trail, North Fort Myers