March 21 is Deadline to Register for Federal Disaster Aid

JEFERSON CITY, Mo. – Midnight on March 21, 2016, is the deadline for Missourians in the 33 counties designated for federal aid due to losses from the severe storms and flooding Dec. 23, 2015, to Jan. 9, 2016, to register for two types of federal assistance.

Grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) help eligible individuals and families pay for rent if the disaster displaced them from their homes, make basic home repairs, or cover other serious disaster-related losses. Both property owners and renters may be eligible. These grants do not have to be repaid.

Low interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) are the main form of federal assistance following a disaster. SBA makes disaster loans available to businesses of all sizes, most nonprofit organizations, homeowners, and renters. Without a loan, many of those with disaster losses would be unable to rebuild and recover.

People with insurance are among those encouraged to register, as they may find after the deadline that FEMA can help them with losses their insurance doesn’t cover. Similarly, even individuals who have minor damage should register, because they may find out after the deadline passes that their repairs are more extensive than originally expected.

Register online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling toll-free 800-621-3362 (FEMA),

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.

Several disaster recovery centers remain open in Missouri where in-person assistance is available from FEMA and SBA. Locations of recovery centers may be found through a link from the home page of fema.gov/drc.

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 web pages 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.