Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

60-Day FEMA Deadline In Effect After Ice

Those who haven't contacted the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) yet still have time to apply for assistance.

Patricia Brach, a FEMA spokesperson, said normally people affected by disasters have 60 days from the date the disaster was declared to apply. In this case, the declaration was made Dec. 29, 2000, giving people until the end of February to apply.

FEMA, she said, offers a wide range of benefits and assistance to individuals and communities.

For individuals, this includes temporary housing aid. To qualify a person or family whose residence was made uninhabitable because of a disaster may be eligible for FEMA funds.

This could be in the form of money to help obtain alternative rental housing or make essential minor repairs.

Individual and family grants up to $14,400 may be available to eligible disaster victims to meet disaster-related needs or necessary expenses not covered by other disaster assistance programs or insurance.

This grant program is administered by the state with Arkansas and FEMA splitting the costs 75-25, with FEMA paying 75 percent.

Home and personal property disaster loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration are available to homeowners and renters for restoring or replacing disaster-related damaged real and personal property.

The maximum real estate portion homeowners can borrow is $200,000, while there is a $40,000 cap on personal property. Renters can borrow up to $40,000 to replace personal property.

These amounts are limited to uninsured, SBA-verified losses, and the interest rates on the loans will vary.

Farmers haven't been forgotten in this disaster either. There are housing loans and grants available to them.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture may make such loans to permanent residents who sustained damages requiring repair or replacement to the home. Grants of up to $5,000 are available to low-income applicants who are 62 or older.

Emergency loans may be available to farmers and ranchers who were operating and managing such enterprises at the time of the disaster.

But, these loans are limited to the amount necessary to compensate for actual losses to essential property and/or production capacity.

Farmers and ranchers can apply for cost-sharing grants for emergency conservation programs, such as debris removal from crop/pasture lands, repairs to land/water conservation structures and permanent fencing.

Businesses affected can apply for business disaster loans through the SBA to repair or replace damaged or destroyed equipment, facilities or inventory. The maximum loan is $1.5 million.

The most important thing, Brach said, is to call FEMA's toll-free number and get on the list. The number is 1-800-462-9029, with the TDD number for the speech and hearing impaired 1-800-462-7585.

Once application has been made, a help line is available to check on the status of claims. This toll-free number is 1-800-525-0321.

For homeowners and renters, she said, the most important thing is to get them back in their homes by making the structure safe.

A disaster recovery center will be in Hope Thursday and Friday, Jan. 18-19, at the Fair Park Community Center. The Hope center is for Clark, Columbia, Hempstead, Howard, Lafayette, Little River, Miller, Nevada, Pike and Sevier counties.

Those who have applied already should take their claim number with them. Without a claim number, no questions can be answered, as the person won't be in the system.

The center will be open each day from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Representatives will be on hand to answer any questions people may have and help fill out the SBA loan applications.

These applications must also be filled out regardless.

One of the most important thing those affected by the disaster can do is save all receipts for disaster-related emergency use. These can be presented to a representative at a disaster recovery center and be used in filling out the loan and grant applications.At this time, however, generators are not covered under the disaster-related expenses. But, Brach said, those who bought generators should keep their receipts anyway, as this could change. In addition, it could be possible to write them off on income tax, if the purchase was made prior to 12-31-2000.

Arkansas had a total of 61 counties declared federal disasters by the ice storm. The state is getting 90 percent funding from FEMA to help in the recovery process.

As of Sunday, Jan. 14, 2001, Brach said, there were 19,370 people who have applied for FEMA assistance.

More than $1 million in housing program has been approved already, with $227,313 approved through the individual and family grant program.

The SBA has received 8031 applications for home loan repair assistance and 2,550 applications from businesses.

Those applying for FEMA help need to have the following information available when calling: name, address, phone number, secondary phone number, social security number, current mailing address and household income.

After the phone application has been made, normally a field representative will inspect the damaged property within 7-10 days.

Applicants should ask to see photo identification to make sure the person does work for FEMA.

Brach said there are volunteer organizations that help with debris removal. Those who are unable to do this at their homes, she added, should contact their city or county government to find out more on these organizations.

The governing bodies should also be contacted about any potential burn bans or burning ordinances.

When burning, she said, it's important not to block ditches as this will increase the likelihood of flooding later on.

If anyone hires a contractor to make repairs on their home, they should check the contractor out to make sure they're licensed and insured.