The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has asked the Bar’s Young Lawyers Division to gear up its volunteer lawyer program to assist Florida residents who suffered damages from Tropical Storm Fay.
YLD President Jewel White Cole, reporting to the Bar Board of Governors last month, said that FEMA had contacted the division and asked it to gear up its FEMA-related program to provide legal help to Floridians after natural disasters.
Although “only” a tropical storm, Fay dropped huge amounts of rain and caused massive flooding as it crisscrossed its way across the peninsula and panhandle. Damage was particularly heavy along parts of the East Coast, Cole said, and that led FEMA to ask the YLD to begin its assistance program.
The division has already opened a toll-free number for Floridians to call and is now seeking additional lawyers to help those storm victims, she said. Attorneys who can deal with landlord-tenant, construction, and fraud issues are particularly needed, Cole told the board, but all volunteers are welcome.
Interested attorneys can get more information about the program, as well as find a form for volunteering, by going to the division’s www.flayld.org.
— Courtesy Florida Bar News