NORTH LITTLE ROCK – More than $2 million in assistance to date is helping the residents of nine Arkansas counties recover from the severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding, May 7 to June 15, 2015.

Recovery officials caution though, that the time to register for federal help is running out.  The deadline to apply for assistance is Aug. 25, 2015.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management provide this current summary of assistance:

More than $922,323 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. The goal is to make the home safe, sanitary and functional; and,

• Help replace homes destroyed in the disaster.

More than $99,824 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, $1,082,000 in low-interest disaster loans for homeowners, renters, businesses and private nonprofit organizations has been approved by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Residents of Crawford, Garland, Howard, Jefferson, Little River, Miller, Perry, Sebastian, and Sevier counties are encouraged to register for assistance with FEMA before the Aug. 25, 2015 deadline.

Individuals and business owners who sustained losses can apply for assistance by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or by web enabled mobile device at m.fema.gov. 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. Multilingual operators are available.

The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice. Multilingual operators are available.

The following is a by-county summary of assistance.

Approved assistance as of COB Aug. 2, 2015. U.S. SBA Administration loans are through July 29, 2015.

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.

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.