It’s been  roughly two months since Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida, bringing winds up to 140 mph and devastating  the region.

According to FEMA, 25% of businesses will fail within one year of a disaster and over 40% of small businesses never reopen. In addition, 90% fail if they don’t reopen quick enough. For some local companies, it may be business as usual, and for others it may be a much longer recovery that could take years. It is estimated that there may be up to $70 billion in losses statewide. The time is now for the Sarasota County business community to rally together to measure the local business impact.

The Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County stands ready to provide information and resources to help all local businesses move forward to recovery, and becoming more resilient and sustainable post-Ian. Your help is imperative in ensuring that federal and state dollars are deployed to aid business recovery over the long term. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and the State Emergency Response Team activated the Business Damage Assessment Survey to determine the totality of the business impact, both physical and economic. Information gathered from this survey allows the state to expedite storm recovery efforts, including additional funding focused on businesses, and provides key information to drive recovery strategies.

This is where you come in. To ensure that the Sarasota County business community gets the necessary resources for storm recovery and resiliency, it is imperative that businesses impacted by the hurricane take the online survey at floridadisaster.biz/BusinessDamageAssessments without delay.

While the situation is still unfolding, Hurricane Ian will have significant short- and long-term impacts on Sarasota County businesses and their employees. There are nearly 27,000 registered business in Sarasota County and each one is a vital part of the economy.

The EDC has launched a call center on behalf of Sarasota County Government and our team is reaching out to businesses and asking them to complete the survey. The EDC team is also ready to help businesses complete the survey by phone. If any business needs assistance, please call 941-309-1200 or email info@edcsarasotacounty.com.

So far, over $50 million in damages have been reported by Sarasota County, numerous businesses plan temporary layoffs, and some are considering whether to reopen. These factors can be a serious workforce issue as economists predict tens of thousands of people will file for unemployment benefits after the storm. We know from previous disasters that after evacuations, many workers never return and others may decide to leave the area all together, leading to longer-term economic impacts and recovery.

It is paramount that the local business community receives the additional funding, resources and assistance it needs to recover and move forward. We urge you to complete the survey today and help ensure a robust and growing economy.

Erin Silk is chief operations officer for the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Federal, state funds still available help businesses recover from Ian