Center Opens in Greene County to Help Missouri Flood Survivors

JEFERSON CITY, Mo. – A FEMA Disaster Recovery Center is opening Thursday, Feb. 11, in Springfield. The center offers in-person support to individuals and businesses in any of the 33 Missouri counties included in the Jan. 21, 2016, Missouri federal disaster declaration.

Recovery specialists from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and other agencies will be at the center to discuss aid and assist anyone who needs help with an application. The new center is at this location:

• The Library Center, 4653 S. Campbell Ave., Springfield, MO 65810

The center joins these five others already in operation:

• Cape Girardeau County center is at the Salvation Army, 701 Good Hope St., Cape Girardeau, MO 63703.
• St. Louis County center is at Jefferson Barracks Visitor Center, 345 North Road, St. Louis, MO 63125.
• St. Charles County center is at Immaculate Conception Community Center, 14060 N. State Route 94, West Alton, MO 63386.
• Franklin County center is at Tri-County Senior Center, 800 W. Union Street, Pacific, MO 63069.
• Jefferson County center is at Arnold City Hall, 2101 Jeffco Blvd., Arnold, MO 63010.

All recovery centers are open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The centers are closed on Sundays. Centers will be open on Presidents’ Day, Monday, Feb. 15.

Disaster survivors may visit any of the centers for assistance. Locations of recovery centers may be found online at fema.gov/drc.

There are two main types of federal disaster assistance. FEMA provides grants to qualified individuals for rental assistance, home repairs, or other serious disaster-related losses. SBA makes low-interest disaster loans to help homeowners, renters, most nonprofits, and businesses of all sizes rebuild and recover.

Individuals and businesses are encouraged to register with FEMA before visiting a disaster recovery center. Register online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling toll-free 800-621-FEMA (3362), 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week until further notice. Multilingual registration assistance is available. Survivors may also register using the fema.gov app for smartphones.

Disaster assistance applicants who are hard of hearing or have a speech disability and use TTY should call 800-462-7585. Those who use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS) should call 800-621-3362.

The only way to access FEMA assistance is by registering with FEMA. Registering with any other agency does not register you with FEMA.

The federal disaster declaration covers eligible losses caused by flooding and severe storms between December 23, 2015, and January 9, 2016, in these counties: Barry, Barton, Camden, Cape Girardeau, Cole, Crawford, Franklin, Gasconade, Greene, Hickory, Jasper, Jefferson, Laclede, Lawrence, Lincoln, Maries, McDonald, Morgan, Newton, Osage, Phelps, Polk, Pulaski, Scott, St. Charles, St. Francois, St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Stone, Taney, Texas, Webster and Wright.

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For breaking news about flood recovery, follow FEMA Region 7 on Twitter at https://twitter.com/femaregion7 and turn on mobile notifications or visit the FEMA webpages dedicated to this disaster at www.fema.gov/disaster/4250.

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.

All FEMA disaster assistance will be provided without discrimination on the grounds of race, color, sex (including sexual harassment), religion, national origin, age, disability, limited English proficiency, economic status, or retaliation. If you believe your civil rights are being violated, call 800-621-3362 or 800-462-7585(TTY/TDD).

The SBA is the federal government’s primary source of money for the long-term rebuilding of disaster-damaged private property. SBA helps businesses of all sizes, private non-profit organizations, homeowners and renters fund repairs or rebuilding efforts and cover the cost of replacing lost or disaster-damaged personal property. These disaster loans cover losses not fully compensated by insurance or other recoveries and do not duplicate benefits of other agencies or organizations. For more information, applicants may contact SBA’s Disaster Assistance Customer Service Center by calling 800-659-2955, emailing disastercustomerservice@sba.gov, or visiting SBA’s website at www.sba.gov/disaster. Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals may call 800-877-8339.