Preparing for Hurricane Milton and Recovering from Hurricane Helene

Preparations are underway for the expected landfall later today of Hurricane Milton in Florida. The storm is a category 4 hurricane and expected to remain at hurricane strength as it moves across the Florida peninsula, bringing rainfall of 6-12 inches with localized rainfall of 18 inches, and risk of catastrophic and life-threatening flash and urban flooding. During an emergency preparedness briefing held today in Tallahassee, emergency authorities advised:

• Over 300 health care facilities have been evacuated making this the largest evacuation of these facilities in Florida’s history.
• Approximately 217 assisted living communities have evacuated as of this afternoon, with the window for evacuations rapidly closing.
• Assisted living and other health care operators have the authority to exceed resident capacity without approval from the Agency for Health Care Administration for the next two weeks.
• Assisted living communities are advised to update their status in the Health Facility Reporting System daily by 10:00 a.m. or in the event of any change in status.
• Due to the anticipated severity of the storm, authorities are projecting potential long-term utility outages and ask for that everyone prepare for that possibility.
• Power companies throughout the anticipated affected areas are already staging repair and restoration crews.

Argentum’s State Partner, the Florida Senior Living Association (FSLA), is leading efforts to prepare senior living providers for the storm while also helping those recovering from Hurricane Helene. Part of storm preparation includes communicating directly with Florida emergency management operations and regulatory personnel as well as exploring contingencies for providers in meeting resident needs.

We urge communities to contact Gail Matillo, President & CEO of FSLA at info@floridaseniorliving.org or 850-496-2562 for any needs your residents and communities both during and post-storm. Please also reach out to Paul Williams as a resource at 410-900-5100, pwilliams@argentum.org.

NORTH CAROLINA HURRICANE HELENE UPDATE
Argentum’s State Partner, the North Carolina Assisted Living Association (NCALA), has also been active in coordinating resident and provider needs with state emergency management and regulatory officials. Through a hurricane needs survey offered by Argentum, American Seniors Housing Association as well as our affected State Partner organizations, we have received requests for assistance from several NC assisted living communities in the Asheville and Hendersonville areas related to Hurricane Helene; we have relayed these requests to our State Partner who has submitted to state agencies, including emergency response officials.

RECOVERY AND FEDERAL RELIEF
Argentum will be sending letters to Congress on the specific need for relief for senior living communities. Last year, Argentum successfully advocated for senior living communities impacted by storms to be eligible for the $16 billion in federal disaster relief funding, and in 2022 ensured that senior living providers would be eligible for funding from the $858 million disaster relief package established for communities and businesses in Hurricanes Ian and Fiona impacted areas to repair or replace disaster-damaged property including real estate, inventories, supplies, machinery and equipment.