Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, United States Small Business Administration and the city of Dayton are urging people affected by the Memorial Day tornadoes to apply for federal disaster assistance. The filing deadline is Tuesday September 3, 2019.
James Joseph, the regional administrator with the FEMA, says more than 6,000 people have already signed up for FEMA or SBA assistance.
“And that is the assistance to homeowners where they were either uninsured or underinsured and to help them with some critical funds that they may need to kickstart their recovery.” He said. “And also for those that were renters with some rental assistance if they can't find another place to stay or they couldn't find another place to stay in the near term.”
The federal officials gathered at Children’s Hospital Wednesday. Also there was Sima Merick, executive director with the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.
Merick praised all of the state, county and federal agencies that have been involved in tornado-relief efforts for focusing their efforts to help affected communities.
“And to see everybody who comes together and provides resources and talks and involves everyone and goes out to make sure the residents, one are safe and two, are having their needs met early on, is critically important. We are far from over. We have a lot of work to do but we will continue to do this as a unified group and a unified effort.”
FEMA reports the agency has approved $4.3 million in Individual Assistance for households in the 11 counties under the major disaster declaration.
Congressman Mike Turner (R-10) thanked FEMA for helping the local governments recover costs of the disaster.
“We certainly look forward to working with you as you're providing assistance also to our local governments for the expenses that they have had in responding for cleanup debris removal that's going to be very important.”
Anyone needing relief can call 1-800-621-FEMA. You can also www.disasterassistance.gov. Representatives from SBA say they will stay on hand to help businesses through March of 2020.
Further information provided by FEMA on the $4.3 million in Individual Assistance for households in the 11 counties under the major disaster declaration. Of that total, FEMA has approved the following amounts for the 6 declared counties of the Dayton area and nearby:
