One Week Away: Deadline to Apply for Federal Assistance for July Severe Storms is Dec. 13


One Week Away: Deadline to Apply for Federal Assistance for July Severe Storms is Dec. 13

SPRINGFIELD – FEMA has approved more than $126.8 million for homeowners and renters with July 13 - 16 storm damage to their home and personal property in Cook, Fulton, Henry, St. Clair, Washington, Will and Winnebago. Help is still available, so don’t delay! There’s one week left to apply for assistance from FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) before the Friday, December 13 deadline.

You don’t need to wait for contractor estimates or insurance settlements to apply for FEMA assistance. In fact, you shouldn’t wait. You need to get your application in by the deadline, even if that application will need more information or documentation submitted at a later point. By law FEMA cannot duplicate benefits covered by insurance, but FEMA may be able to help with costs that insurance doesn't cover—which may include grants for temporary housing, basic home repair or replacement, moving and storage costs, primary vehicle repair or replacement, essential furniture and appliances, medical and dental costs, and childcare costs.

Apply for FEMA assistance one of three ways:

Go online to DisasterAssistance.gov.

Use the FEMA mobile app.

Call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362. Multilingual operators are available to take your call; press option 2 for Spanish and 3 for all other languages. If you use a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, give FEMA the number for that service.

SBA Physical Disaster Loans

After you apply for FEMA assistance, don’t wait to apply for a long-term, low-interest disaster loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) too. You aren’t required to apply for an SBA loan to be considered for FEMA grants, but you could miss out on SBA’s help with disaster-related expenses that FEMA assistance doesn’t cover. There is no cost to apply, and you are under no obligation to accept a loan if approved.

Homeowners, renters, businesses and certain private non-profit organizations can learn more about SBA long-term, low-interest Physical Disaster Loans that can go towards repairing and replacing disaster-damaged property, by going online to sba.gov/disaster.

The deadline to apply for FEMA assistance and an SBA Physical Disaster Loan is Friday, December 13. For even more information about the disaster recovery operation in Illinois, visit www.fema.gov/disaster/4819.

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