Disaster Recovery Center in Howard County to Close Aug. 5; Deadline to Register is Aug. 25

NORTH LITTLE ROCK – The disaster recovery center in Howard County will close at the end of the business day on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015.

Located at the Carter Day Training Center, 200 Lake Nichols Drive in Nashville, the center was opened to provide help to those whose homes or businesses were affected by the severe storms May 7 to June 15, 2015.

The center is open Monday through Friday,  from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Aug. 5. After the center closes, help is still be available online or by a toll-free call.

Individuals and families who suffered losses as a result of the late spring storms have until Aug. 25, 2015 to register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for disaster assistance. They can do so online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621- 3362 (FEMA).  Disaster assistance applicants, who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY, should call 1-800-462-7585 directly; for those who use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS), call 1-800-621-3362.  Multilingual operators are available.

Those who have registered for assistance can get answers to questions and check on the status of their claim online, or at the same toll-free number.

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.

Federal disaster assistance for individuals and families can include money for rental assistance, essential home repairs, personal property loss and other serious disaster-related needs not covered by insurance.

Each disaster recovery center has assistive technologies for people with disabilities. ASL assistance is available at the DRCs by appointment by calling 870-451-9241.

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.

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.