President Declares Major Disaster for Virginia

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that federal disaster assistance has been made available to the commonwealth of Virginia to supplement commonwealth and local recovery efforts in the area affected by Hurricane Matthew beginning on October 7, 2016, and continuing.

The President’s action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in the independent cities of Chesapeake, Newport News, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.    

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures in all areas within the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Donald L. Keldsen has been named as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area. Keldsen said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the commonwealth and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Individuals and business owners who sustained losses in the designated area can begin applying for assistance tomorrow by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362).  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. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice.

Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema.  Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema.

The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.

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.