Businesses in St. Johns Co. continue waiting for FEMA following Hurricane Matthew

Businesses perched along the water like the Matanzas Innlet restaurant were no match for Hurricane Matthew.

Owner Joan Galasso said her building was destroyed.

“It was utter devastation. It was remarkably and unbelievably surreal,” said owner Joan Galasso.

Galasso said she does have insurance for her business but she’s still waiting for a flood adjuster to show up.

“We’d like to get some sort of sense of where we are by seeing an insurance adjuster or FEMA at some point, but we have not as of yet it’s over two weeks,” said Galasso.

Action News Jax spoke with the director of Federal Emergency Management Agency’s national flood insurance program and asked him how long people would be waiting.

“If they haven’t seen their adjuster yet, they should see that adjuster soon,” said director of the National Flood Insurance Program Roy Wright.

He said thousands of claims have been filed already in St Johns County.

“Two thousand seven hundred of our flood insurance claims so far have been filed here,” Wright said.

He expects that number to go up.

Galasso said she doesn’t know the future of her restaurant and will wait for a flood adjuster to come out.

Cox Media Group