Disaster Recovery Center Open in Crawford County

NORTH LITTLE ROCK – A joint federal/state disaster recovery center will open in Crawford County on Tuesday, July 14 to help those whose homes or businesses were affected by the severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding during the period of May 7 to June 15, 2015.

Representatives from the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Small Business Administration and other agencies will be at the centers to explain disaster assistance programs and help survivors apply for aid.

The center is located at the Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative Building, 615 E. Pointer Trail in Van Buren, AR 72956.

Hours are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and on Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. until further notice.

Those seeking disaster assistance should register with FEMA before going to a disaster recovery center. Individuals and families who suffered losses as a result of the late spring storms may register online at www.disasterassistance.gov or those without access to the internet, can call FEMA’s toll-free registration number at 1-800-621-3362 (FEMA) or (TTY) 1-800-462-7585 for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice. Multilingual operators are available.

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

Anyone who sustained damage in Crawford, Garland, Howard, Jefferson, Little River, Miller, Perry, Sebastian, or Sevier counties, which were designated for federal disaster assistance, can visit any disaster recovery center.

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.

Low-interest disaster loans from the Small Business Administration (SBA) are available to help with residential and business losses not covered by insurance. The SBA is the federal government’s primary source of money for the 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. Applying for these loans is also a way to qualify for other avenues of assistance.

For more information on SBA programs, 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.

To locate the disaster recovery center nearest you, go to http://asd.fema.gov/inter/locator/home.htm. On a web-enabled mobile device, go to http://asd.fema.gov/inter/locator/mobile.htm.

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.