Local Area Disaster Recovery Centers (DRC’s) To CLOSE

Nineteen more Texas counties designated for Public Assistance:  On Aug. 4, 19 counties were added to the 91 counties previously approved for Public Assistance. The newly added counties are Bosque, Brazoria, Collingsworth, Colorado, Coryell, Duval, Erath, Hall, Hardin, Jim Wells, Lubbock, McLennan, Palo Pinto, Shelby, Smith, Somervell, Tom Green, Washington and Young. A total of 110 counties in the state of Texas are eligible for federal aid in all categories of work, including debris removal, emergency protective measures and infrastructure repairs in the wake of severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding in Texas from May 4 to June 22.

Registration deadline: Thursday, Aug. 27, is the deadline for Texans to register with FEMA for a disaster grant and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for a low-interest loan.

FEMA Mitigation Community Education Outreach. FEMA mitigation specialists are staffing in-store information centers at Texas home improvement stores. Advisors offer home improvement tips and proven methods of preventing or reducing damage from future disasters. Most of the information is aimed at general contractors or people interested in do-it-yourself projects. The specialists are in Houston, New Braunfels and, starting tomorrow, Decatur. Go to the following links for full schedules for Harris, Guadalupe and Wise Counties.

Guadalupe County: Aug. 6-11: Home Depot, 1360 N IH 35, New Braunfels, TX 78130. Hours: Thursday through Saturday from, 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Monday and Tuesday, 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Federal declaration amended to extend incident period. The federal disaster declaration for Texas has been amended for severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding, extending the incident period to June 22 (originally June 19).

Keep in touch. The state and FEMA are urging survivors to keep in touch throughout the recovery process. Call 800-621-3362 or go to www.DisasterAssistance.gov. Survivors can update their current address and phone number, initiate appeals, reschedule inspection appointments, notify FEMA about insurance settlements, or ask any disaster-related questions.

Disaster Unemployment Assistance: Anyone who lost work as a result of May 4-June 22 severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding should call the Texas Workforce Commission at 800-939-6631 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for information on availability. Other DUA deadlines are:

Aug. 12 for the 6 IA counties added on July 9

Aug. 19 for the 4 IA counties added on July 17

Aug. 21 for Red River County, added on July 21

Topics include rumor control, up-to-the-minute recovery information, registration center locations and hours, links to apply for assistance and other resources, information about flood insurance, news releases, fact sheets, photographs and blogs.

State of Texas – Information from the Texas Division of Emergency Management is available at www.txdps.state.tx.us/dem

SBA – Information about low-interest disaster recovery loans for homeowners, renters and businesses of all sizes can be found at www.sba.gov/disaster

To be eligible for disaster assistance, at least one person in your household must be an eligible U.S. citizen, Qualified Alien or noncitizen national.

Disaster assistance may be available if a parent or guardian who is not eligible for assistance applies on behalf of a minor child who is a U.S. citizen or a Qualified Alien.

Additionally, homeowners, renters and businesses of all sizes may be eligible for low-interest disaster assistance from the SBA. They must be eligible U.S. citizens or Qualified Aliens, and of legal age.

or households in which no one is eligible for federal assistance, help may be available from voluntary agencies that deliver humanitarian services without regard to citizenship or immigration status. 

Anyone who receives a letter of ineligibility can call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362 from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (local time).

Disaster assistance applicants, who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY, should call 800-462-7585 directly.

Users of 711 or Video Relay Services (VRS) should call 800-621-3362.

Online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov

By calling 800-621-FEMA (3362). 

The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice.

Multilingual operators are available.

Disaster assistance applicants, who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY, should call 800-462-7585 directly.

Users of 711 or Video Relay Services (VRS) should call 800-621-3362.

By visiting a FEMA Mobile Registration Intake Center or state-FEMA Disaster Recovery Center in your area.        

However, insurance may not cover all of your expenses, so disaster programs may be able to help.

You should not wait for your insurance settlement to apply for a low-interest disaster loan from the SBA.

If a survivor is non-compliant with maintaining their flood insurance, they will be ineligible for the home repair portion of housing assistance. However, they may still be eligible for rental assistance.

This useful publication explains how FEMA’s disaster assistance program works; describes additional kinds of help you may qualify for from other federal, state and voluntary agencies; and gives you many important tips on how best to make all these programs work for you.

If your home or its contents are damaged and you are uninsured or under-insured, a FEMA inspector may contact you within about 10 days after you apply to schedule a time to meet with you at your damaged home. All inspectors carry photo ID that shows they are affiliated with the U.S. government.

We have 38 inspectors in the field. 26,010 inspections have been issued; 25,768 inspections returned to FEMA, a completion rate of more than 99 percent.

As of Aug. 5 COB, 32,138 Texas households have registered for state and federal assistance.

FEMA continues to encourage all Texans who have suffered property damage or losses due to the recent storms and flooding to call the toll free number to report losses.

Total approved: More than $47.3 million.

Housing Assistance: More than $39.3 million.

Other Needs Assistance: More than $8 million.

Disaster recovery loans from the SBA are the primary source of federal funds to help homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes, and private non-profit organizations with long-term rebuilding, restoration and replacement of their disaster-damaged private property. 

Most flood survivors are referred to the SBA for a low-interest disaster recovery loan.  Even if they feel they can’t afford a loan or won’t qualify, they should still apply. If the SBA determines an applicant is not eligible for a loan, the applicant may be referred for further disaster assistance. However, failure to return the application halts that process.

For this disaster to date:

These low-interest loans cover losses not fully compensated by insurance or other recoveries and do not duplicate benefits of other agencies or organizations.

Survivors can apply in person at any of the State/FEMA/SBA recovery centers or directly online at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/

For more information or any questions about SBA disaster programs, businesses and residents can go to www.sba.gov/disaster or call SBA’s Disaster Assistance Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals may call 800-877-8339).

Requests for Public Assistance: PA applicants must file Requests for Public Assistance (RPAs) within 30 days of the date of the original federal disaster declaration or the date on which their county was subsequently added to the original declaration.

A 30 day extension of the RPA deadline was approved for certain counties designated for PA.

The RPA deadline for the 51 counties added on June 9 is Aug. 8, 2015.

The RPA deadline for the additional 15 counties added on July 1 was July 31, 2015 (no extension).  

The RPA deadline for the additional 18 counties added on July 23 is Aug. 22, 2015.

Harris, Hays and Van Zandt counties are designated for Individual Assistance. Cooke, Gaines, Grimes, Harris, Hays, Navarro, and Van Zandt counties are designated for Public Assistance.

Bastrop, Blanco, Caldwell, Denton, Eastland, Fort Bend, Gaines, Guadalupe, Henderson, Hidalgo, Johnson, Milam, Montague, Navarro, Rusk, Smith, Travis, Wichita, Williamson and Wise.

Angelina, Archer, Atascosa, Bastrop, Baylor, Blanco, Bowie, Burleson, Caldwell, Cass, Cherokee, Clay, Comal, Comanche, Denton, Fannin, Fayette, Garza, Gillespie, Grayson, Harrison, Henderson, Hood, Houston, Jasper, Johnson, Kaufman, Kendall, Lamar, Lee, Liberty, Lynn, Madison, Milam, Montague, Nacogdoches, Newton, Polk, Refugio, Rusk, Sabine, San Jacinto, Travis, Tyler, Uvalde, Walker, Wharton, Williamson, Wilson, Wise and Zavala.

Cooke, Dallas, Fannin, Grayson, Liberty, Nueces, and Walker.

June 19: Amendment closes incident period. (May 4-June 19)

June 24: Amendment adds one more county for Individual Assistance:

Fayette: July 1: Amendment adds five additional counties for Individual Assistance and 15 more counties for Public Assistance:

July 9: Memorandum extending registration deadline for Individual Assistance to Aug. 27, 2015.

July 17: Amendment adds four additional counties added for Individual Assistance:

July 21: Amendment extends incident period to June 22.

July 21: Amendment adds Red River County for Individual Assistance.

July 23: Amendment adds 18 additional counties for Public Assistance:

Aug. 4: Amendment adds 19 additional counties for Public Assistance: Bosque, Brazoria, Collingsworth, Colorado, Coryell, Duval, Erath, Hall, Hardin, Jim Wells, Lubbock, McLennan, Palo Pinto, Shelby, Smith, Somervell, Tom Green, Washington and Young.