Hillsborough County ends State of Local Emergency

TAMPA, Fla. - For the first time since late September, Hillsborough County will no longer be in a State of Local Emergency, they announced Friday.

Storm debris on the sidewalks of a Tampa street.

After extending the original emergency declaration in early October, the order for Hurricane Helene will expire Feb. 3. The order for Hurricane Milton will expire Feb. 2.

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The County’s Emergency Operations Center is returning to Level 3 Monitoring, too, which equates to normal daily operations.

Declaring a Local State of Emergency

The backstory:

The county declared a state of emergency on September 23, 2023 to access funding for hurricane preparations and hurricane-related cleanup efforts in the run-up and aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
They extended the Local State of Emergency to February 3rd.

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Debris from Hurricanes Milton and Helene.

They say that if more storm cleanup is necessary, "staff will follow the county’s normal procurement processes."

The county says ending the state of emergency is off the heels of collecting almost 100% of debris, which tallies nearly five million cubic yards and equals 111,484 truckloads of debris.

Why was Hillsborough County under a State of Local Emergency?

Big picture view:

Hillsborough County declared a State of Local Emergency to deal with the back-to-back hurricanes which brought record winds and rainfall to the Tampa Bay region in late 2024.

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To read FOX 13 News' in depth reporting of Hurricane Helene, click here. To read FOX 13 News' in-depth reporting of Hurricane Milton, click here.

The Source: The information in this story is courtesy of Hillsborough County.

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