Whidbey Island residents and business owners whose property was damaged from the severe storms in October have until Jan. 6 to apply for disaster assistance from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and loans from the Small Business Association.
Coordinating the effort in the state is the Washington Emergency Management Office in Olympia (WEMD).
“FEMA assistance is for people who are uninsured or who have items lost or damaged that their insurance did not cover,” said Rob Harper, a spokesman for WEMD.
Harper said Jan 6 is also the deadline for submitting loan applications to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for disaster-related losses to real and personal property.
“People will not be eligible for a loan from the SBA unless they apply for the assistance from FEMA first,” he said.
“A total of 1,275 people have applied statewide, only 1 from Island County for the estimated $4.1 million.
Harper said there may be more people in Island County who are eligible. A telephone call to the registration number is the only way to find out,” Harper said.
The $4.1 million dollars includes over $2.2 million from FEMA and state programs and over $1.9 million in disaster loans from the SBA.
To apply the toll-free registration line at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362). Hearing or speech-impaired individuals may call the TTY registration number at 1-800-462-7585. Registration phone lines are open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. until further notice.
Other counties eligible for disaster relief are Chelan, Clallam, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Mason, Okanogan, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, Thurston and Whatcom.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is the federal government’s primary source of money for the long term rebuilding of disaster damaged private property. SBA helps homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes and private, nonprofit organizations fund repairs or rebuilding efforts, and cover the cost of replacing lost or disaster damaged personal property. These disaster loans cover uninsured or uncompensated losses and do not duplicate benefits of other agencies or organizations.
On March 1, 2003, FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
