FEMA SHELTERING AND TEMPORARY ESSENTIAL POWER (STEP) PROGRAM - HURRICANES MARIA & IRMA
The FEMA Sheltering and Temporary Essential Power (STEP) Program was established to respond to the needs of Puerto Rico homeowners who experienced damage caused by Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria in September 2017. The STEP Program was designed to provide temporary damage repairs and to offer homeowners who were displaced, an option to return to their homes after the wide spread catastrophic damage caused by the Hurricanes.
Hurricane Maria’s top sustained windspeed was 155 mph when it made landfall as a category 4 storm, just short of being considered a category 5 storm. It left the entire commonwealth of Puerto Rico with no electricity, no water, no telecommunications and no transportation systems, causing $80 billion in damages. Many Puerto Rican homeowners don’t have insurance policies to help with rebuilding, making an already economically depressed island’s recovery more difficult.
JWTC has a proven track record as a qualified contractor based on our capability and experience with both FEMA and HUD CDBG emergency shelter-in-place programs. The Puerto Rico Department of Housing selected James W. Turner Construction, Ltd. to provide basic essential repairs on a large scale to the single-family owner- occupied homes throughout Puerto Rico that were devastated. The JWTC team took on over 11,400 projects for the FEMA STEP Program with a contract value of $106 million. Damage ranged from low scope with minimal damage to severe damage, requiring temporary repairs reaching the scope capacity designated for this program.
LOCATION:
Puerto Rico
CLIENT:
Department of Housing Puerto Rico
PROJECT DURATION:
January 2018-March 2019
