Disaster Legal Advice Offered to Tropical Storm Debby Survivors

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Legal services are available to survivors affected by Tropical Storm Debby in the 22 counties designated for federal Individual Assistance.

Survivors who can’t afford an attorney and who run into legal difficulties due to the storm may call the Florida Disaster Legal Services hotline at       866-550-2929 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Assistance is available in Spanish.

A volunteer attorney from the Florida Young Lawyer’s Division of the American Bar Association will respond within 48 hours. For email inquiries contact: fema@flabar.org.

Examples of disaster related legal assistance include:

• Assistance with insurance claims (life, medical, property, etc.)
• Counseling on landlord/tenant problems 
• Assisting in consumer protection matters, remedies and procedures
• Replacement of wills and other important legal documents destroyed in the disaster

The 22 counties designated for Individual Assistance with the Federal Emergency Management Agency are: Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Franklin, Gilchrist, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lafayette, Manatee, Nassau, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Suwannee, Taylor, Union and Wakulla.

Survivors and business owners who sustained damages or losses in those counties designated for Individual Assistance can register with FEMA by one of the following methods:

• Call 800-621-FEMA (3362). Assistance is available in most languages and lines are open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. If you are deaf or hard of hearing and use a TTY, call 800-462-7585.
• Go online to www.DisasterAssistance.gov.
• By smartphone or tablet, use the FEMA app or go to m.fema.gov.

For more information on Florida’s disaster recovery, visit www.fema.gov or http://www.floridadisaster.org. On Facebook, go to www.facebook.com/FloridaSERT. To receive Twitter updates: www.twitter.com/FLSERT or www.twitter.com/femaregion4.

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.

Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-FEMA (3362). If you have a speech disability or hearing loss and use a TTY, call 800-462-7585 directly; if you use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS), call 800-621-3362.

FEMA’s temporary housing assistance and grants for public transportation expenses, medical and dental expenses, and funeral and burial expenses do not require individuals to apply for an SBA loan. However, applicants who receive SBA loan applications must submit them to SBA loan officers to be eligible for assistance that covers personal property, vehicle repair or replacement, and moving and storage expenses.

###