AURORA, Ill. – FEMA has extended the registration deadline by 15 days to July 24 for federal assistance from the storms and flooding of April 16 to May 5. In addition, Illinois residents in two additional counties are now eligible to register for disaster assistance.

FEMA approved the State of Illinois request to add Putnam and Warren counties to the disaster declaration for individual assistance issued May 10 and to extend the registration deadline.

The two counties were previously among 40 counties declared for public assistance, which provides local governments and certain eligible nonprofits with funding for debris removal, emergency protective measures and infrastructure repairs such as building roads and bridges. Assistance is on a cost-sharing basis with FEMA paying 75 percent and the remainder the responsibility of the state and local governments.

Residents of 35 counties are now covered in the Illinois disaster declaration for severe storms and flooding. Counties now designated for individual assistance are: Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Clark, Cook, Crawford, DeKalb, Douglas, DuPage, Fulton, Grundy, Henderson, Henry, Kane, Kendall, Knox, Lake, LaSalle, Livingston, Marshall, Mason, McDonough, McHenry, Peoria, Pike, Putnam, Rock Island, Schuyler, Stark, Tazewell, Warren, Whiteside, Will, Winnebago, and Woodford.

Individual Assistance for homeowners and renters can include grants to help pay for temporary rental assistance and other serious disaster-related expenses not met by insurance or other assistance programs. Assistance for homeowners also can include grants for home repair. Low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) are available to cover residential and business losses not fully compensated by insurance.

The FEMA disaster declaration does not include any damage incurred after May 5.

Individuals affected by the storms and flooding can register online at www.disasterassistance.gov or via web-enabled phone at m.fema.gov. Applicants may also call 800-621-3362 or (TTY) 800-462-7585. People who use 711-Relay or Video Relay Services (VRS) can call 800-621-3362. For more information, visit the Illinois Disaster website www.fema.gov/disaster/4116.

Multilingual phone operators are available on the FEMA helpline. Choose Option 2 for Spanish and Option 3 for other languages.

SBA low-interest disaster loans may be available for homeowners, renters, businesses and private non-profit organizations of all sizes to repair or replace real estate, contents and/or personal property damaged in the severe storms and flooding. Information and assistance from SBA is available at 1-800-659-2955, (TTY) 1-800-877-8339 or online at www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance.

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.

Follow FEMA online at twitter.com/femaregion5, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema.  Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at twitter.com/craigatfema. The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.

Media Contact: 571-408-1835