RIDGELAND, Miss. – A disaster recovery center will open at noon Tuesday, April 19, and remain open through 6 p.m. Saturday, April 23, in Pearl River County to provide assistance to survivors of the severe storms and flooding that occurred from March 9-29, 2016.
Recovery centers are run jointly by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Representatives of state, federal and voluntary agencies are available in the centers to explain the various programs designed to help survivors recover.
The Pearl River County Center will be located at Manna Ministries, Inc., 120 Street A, Suite A, Picayune, MS 39466. It will be open on Tuesday from noon until 6 p.m.
Beginning Wednesday, April 20, through Saturday, April 23, the Picayune center will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The center will close permanently on Saturday at 6 p.m.
A nearby Forrest County center remains open to assist survivors Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Centers are closed on Sunday. The location is:
Forrest County
Forrrest County Community Disaster Shelter facility
946 Sullivan Drive
Hattiesburg, MS 39401
Anyone affected by the storms and flooding in a designated county may visit either of the centers. Survivors can locate the nearest center by visiting fema.gov/drc or by calling the FEMA helpline.
Many services available at disaster recovery centers are also available by calling the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362. Survivors with questions regarding the application or the appeals process, or who need to register for assistance, may visit online at DisasterAssistance.gov or by phone (voice, 711 or relay service) at 800-621-3362. (TTY users should call 800-462-7585.) The toll-free lines are open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. Multilingual operators are available.
Survivors requiring a reasonable accommodation (ASL interpreting, Braille Large Print, etc.) while visiting a disaster recovery center may call the appropriate Helpline number above.
Homeowners, renters and business owners can apply for low-interest disaster loans at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela. SBA representatives are available at the disaster recovery centers to answer questions and help survivors complete their disaster loan applications. Questions can also be answered by calling the SBA disaster customer service center at 800-659-2955 or (TTY) 800-877-8339 for the deaf or hard of hearing, or by visiting sba.gov/disaster.
For more information on Mississippi’s flood recovery, go to fema.gov/disaster/4268 or visit the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency website at msema.org.
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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.
Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-FEMA (3362). If you are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech disability loss and use a TTY, call 800-462-7585 directly; if you use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS), call 800-621-3362.
The U.S. Small Business Administration is the federal government’s primary source of money to help business of all sizes, private non-profit organizations, homeowners and renters rebuild and recover after a disaster. SBA low interest disaster loans repair and replace property losses not fully compensated by insurance and do not duplicate benefits of other agencies or organizations.
