West Virginia storm survivors should ‘stay in touch’ with FEMA

CHARLESTON, W. Va.– West Virginia homeowners and renters who have registered for disaster assistance with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are encouraged by recovery officials to “stay in touch” with the agency after they have applied for assistance.

Applicants changing their addresses or phone numbers – even if only temporarily – should update that information with FEMA. Missing or erroneous information could result in delays getting a home inspection or in receiving assistance. When registering with FEMA, it’s a good idea to provide a secondary contact phone number – both a cell phone and a landline number, for example.

FEMA has provided two ways for homeowners and renters to update their information:

• Visit the FEMA website at DisasterAssistance.gov to upload documents.
• Call the toll-free FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362 (voice, 711 or relay service). TTY users should call 800-462-7585. Lines are open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. Multilingual operators are available.

When updating status information, callers should refer to the nine-digit number issued at registration. This number is on all correspondence applicants receive from FEMA and is a key identifier in tracking assistance requests.

For more information on West Virginia recovery, visit the disaster web page at www.fema.gov/disaster/4273, Twitter at www.twitter.com/region3 and the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management at www.dhsem.wv.gov.