Frustration and worry are mounting as the My Safe Florida Home Program website experienced technical glitches on its launch day Monday.
The program provides financial assistance to qualifying homeowners to enhance their homes' resistance to hurricanes.
This assistance is given on a first-come, first-served basis which has left many anxious about missing out on the funding.
Eligible homes must be single-family, detached residential properties or townhomes, built before 2008 and insured for $700,000 or less.
WINK News spoke with Cape Coral homeowners Kevin and Marna Halvorson.
The couple applied for the My Safe Florida Home Program to receive a grant for hurricane windows and shutters.
However, the application process proved to be challenging.
The Halvorsons encountered initial technical issues, unable to log in with their email and password.
"I don't think it was user friendly," said Kevin Halvorson of Cape Coral. "There wasn't enough clarity on exactly what you needed up front and where to go after you completed each step. It didn't say, 'Submit, You're done,' which really would help."
After recreating their account with a different email, they realized they lacked necessary information like their insurance company's name, yearly premium and gross income.
Completing the application took them an hour and a half.
Others faced similar struggles, with several people reaching out to WINK News about their application troubles.
One man reported being stuck at the email and password entry stage and unable to proceed further.
"I decided to call Tallahassee, and then I was on the phone for an hour," said an anonymous person. "I took a shower on the speakerphone. I got in the car and drove down here [Fort Myers] from Charlotte County to see if I could get in and talk to somebody. Today is the group one sign up, 60 plus years low income, and nobody knows what I'm talking about down here. It's a government building, but nobody knew."
Florida's Chief Financial Office attributed the website issues to high traffic volumes but stated that the site otherwise functioned properly.
WINK News reached out to the office for guidance on handling future technical problems and is awaiting a response.