Federal Disaster Aid to Illinois Residents Tops $126.4 Million

AURORA, Ill. – Federal assistance in Illinois has reached more than $126.4 million, distributed among more than 51,100 individuals and households, since a major disaster was declared for storms and flooding that occurred April 16 through May 5.

Storm damage after May 5 is not included in the presidential disaster declaration for Illinois.

The latest summary of federal assistance includes:

• More than $126.4 million in FEMA grants approved for individuals and households;
• Of that amount, more than $109 million has been approved for housing assistance, including temporary rental assistance and home repair costs;
• More than $17 million has been approved to cover other essential disaster-related needs, such as medical and dental expenses and damaged personal possessions;
• More than 74,600 home inspections have been completed to confirm disaster damage; and
• More than $27.4 million in loans to homeowners, renters or business owners has been approved by the U.S. Small Business Administration;.

The registration deadline has been extended to July 24. The 15-day extension was requested by the State of Illinois.

Two additional counties have been added to the major disaster declaration for individual assistance. Putnam and Warren county survivors also have until July 24 to register for federal disaster assistance. The two counties were previously approved for public assistance, which provides local governments and certain eligible nonprofits with funding for debris removal, emergency protective measures and infrastructure repairs such as building roads and bridges.

Individuals can register online at www.disasterassistance.gov or via web-enabled phone at m.fema.gov. Applicants may also call 800-621-3362 or (TTY) 800-462-7585. People who use 711-Relay or Video Relay Services (VRS) can call 800-621-3362. For more information, visit the Illinois Disaster website www.fema.gov/disaster/4116.

Multilingual phone operators are available on the FEMA helpline. Choose Option 2 for Spanish and Option 3 for other languages.

Public assistance has received more than 400 requests for project funding. This assistance is on a cost-sharing basis with FEMA paying 75 percent and the remainder the responsibility of the state and local governments.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Follow FEMA online at twitter.com/femaregion5, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema.  Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at twitter.com/craigatfema. The social media links provided are for reference only.  

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Media Contact: 571-408-1835