Mayor slams 'off-base' damage reports amid hurricane recovery delays: 'People have been out of their homes for seven or eight months'

As hurricane season draws near in 2025, residents of Gulfport, Florida, are still facing confusion in cleaning up the mess of last year's devastating storms.

What's happening?

Following major weather events, recovery involves an intensive damage assessment, designed to decide which homes can be restored and which are beyond saving. According to WFLA News Channel 8, city officials in Gulfport believe the state contractor in charge of these assessments has caused delays with incorrect evaluations.

The contracted company, Tidal Basin, was mainly tasked with issuing substantial damage determination letters, a federal mandate from FEMA that establishes if repairs exceed 50% of the property's value, according to WFLA. Major alleged discrepancies in their assessments, however, have led to months of delays for displaced homeowners.

"We spent a tremendous amount of time redoing letters that were off-base or incorrect," Gulfport's newly elected mayor, Karen Love, told WFLA. "The most pain that comes from that is people have been out of their homes for seven or eight months."

WFLA said it attempted to contact Tidal Basin and the Florida Department of Emergency Management to get an explanation but had not heard back as of publish time.

Why do incorrect damage assessments matter?

Not only do these delays keep communities like Gulfport from moving forward after a natural disaster, but they also leave them vulnerable ahead of the upcoming hurricane season. Meteorologists already predict the 2025 hurricane season will bring more devastating storms due to "several similarities to last year's historic and destructive" season.

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Considering that last year was one of the most costly Atlantic hurricane seasons on record for the United States, these coastal communities can't afford delays in recovery if another storm could likely be on the horizon.

What's being done about these faulty damage assessments?

Mayor Love has made it a priority during her first month in office to clear up this confusion and get rebuilding efforts back on track. With that mission, changes in issuing damage assessments had to be made.

"We are not working with Tidal Basin any longer," the mayor said.

While Gulfport still has a ways to go to recover homes and businesses alike, city officials are doing what they can to expedite construction with accurate damage assessments and enacting floodplain management planning as they rebuild.