Federal Assistance Tops $1 Million for Arkansas Recovery

NORTH LITTLE ROCK – More than $1 million in aid to date is helping the residents of 11 Arkansas counties recover from the severe storms, Dec. 26 – Jan. 22, 2016.

Aid is still available to residents of Benton, Carroll, Crawford, Faulkner, Jackson, Jefferson, Lee, Little River, Perry, Sebastian and Sevier counties who suffered disaster-related damage. They are encouraged to register for assistance with FEMA before the April 5, 2016 deadline.

According to FEMA and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, 171 persons have been approved for disaster assistance as of close of business Feb. 29, 2016.

That assistance includes $922,237 in housing aid to help homeowners and renters:

• Rent temporary housing for a limited period of time;
• Repair damage from the disaster to a homeowner’s primary residence that is not covered by insurance; and
• Help replace homes destroyed in the disaster.

The assistance also includes $77,839 to help pay for:

• Disaster-related medical and dental costs;
• Disaster-related funeral and burial costs;
• Clothing, household items, tools required for work and necessary educational materials;
• Clean-up items;
• Disaster-damaged vehicles;
• Moving and storage expenses related to the disaster; and
• Other necessary expenses or serious needs as determined by FEMA.

Also, $431,200 in low-interest disaster loans for homeowners, renters, businesses and private nonprofit organizations has been approved by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

To register for assistance:

• Call 1-800-621-3362 (FEMA). If you are deaf, hard-of-hearing or have a speech disability and use a TTY, call 800-462-7585. If you use 711-Relay or Video Relay Services (VRS), call 1-800-621-3362.
• Go to www.disasterassistance.gov.

The toll free lines operate from 7 a.m.to 10 p.m. seven days a week. Multilingual operators are available.

Low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) are available to help with residential and business losses not covered by insurance. 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. Persons with speech disability, are deaf or hard-of-hearing may call TTY (800) 877-8339.

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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.