Posted on October 21, 2026
The purpose of this notice is to advise the public that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will initiate the following emergency permitting procedures within the entire state of Florida in response to conditions resulting from Hurricane Isaias that affected Florida on October 9, 2026, through October 10, 2026. These alternate procedures are authorized until April 13, 2027.
1. In accordance with 33 C.F.R. § 325.2(e)(4), an “emergency” is a situation which would result in an unacceptable hazard to life, a significant loss of property, or an immediate, unforeseen, and significant economic hardship if corrective action requiring a permit is not undertaken within a time period less than the normal time needed to process the application under standard procedures.
2. Applicants seeking to avail themselves of emergency permitting procedures should submit a permit application or pre-construction notification (PCN) via the Regulatory Request System (RRS) at rrs.usace.army.mil. Applicants should clearly label their requests “Emergency Permitting Hurricane Isaias” to assist USACE Regulatory staff in readily distinguishing such requests from non-emergency applications.
3. Most permitting will likely be accomplished through the nationwide permit (NWP) program. For example, most aspects of containment/cleanup/restoration activities may be authorized via NWP 3.
4. For those actions which do not qualify for authorization under the terms and conditions of the NWP program, the following procedures will be used:
a. As noted above, applicants should submit an application via the RRS.
b. Emergency permitting requests will be reviewed to determine if there is truly an emergency situation associated with the impacts of Hurricane Isaias.
c. If the action is determined to be an emergency, descriptions of the proposed action will be emailed by the Corps to representatives from each of the commenting agencies, including the agencies responsible for Section 401 Water Quality Certification and Coastal Zone Management Consistency (Florida Department of Environmental Protection or one of the Water Management Districts), if required.
d. A decision by the Corps will be made after review by these local agencies. For most projects, it is anticipated that this process can be finalized within 24-48 hours.
