CLAY COUNTY, Fla. -- So far more than 16,000 households in 22 counties have contacted FEMA for help because of damage caused by Tropical Storm Debbie.
It's been a long two months for Brenda Finn. "We're still feeling the effect of it. I still find water daily and items and stuff. We try to recover," she says.
The inside of Brenda's home on Forest Drive in Middleburg, was destroyed because of flooding during Tropical Storm Debbie.
"This is 53 years I've been on this earth and I've lost everything that I've accumulated all my life," said Brenda.
She tried to salvage what she could from the water. She packed things into bins and piled them as high as she could. She never dreamed the water would reach her windows, four and a half feet high.
"The water got so high that the old dining room chairs, it was above the chairs," she said. "So it ruined everything."
Brenda says it's been a long journey since that week in June. She's had to replace her carpet, tile in her bathroom and all of her furniture; a total of $30,000 worth of damage.
And she says FEMA was an essential part of her recovery process.
"After insurance pays you, for your damages then FEMA will come pay the difference of what your insurance didn't cover," she said. And for now, she takes life one day at a time.
"This is just stuff. It is replaceable. It'll just take time because it took time to build it, it'll take time to rebuild," she said.
To date, FEMA has helped with $40 million of recovery funding in Florida.
