Disaster assistance available at Miami center

Jun. 26--MIAMI, Okla. -- A state and federal disaster recovery center has opened in Miami to help area storm victims.

The center offers support to homeowners, renters and business owners who sustained damage or losses from severe storms, winds, tornadoes or flooding between May 7 and June 9.

Recovery specialists from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management will be on-site to aid in filling out applications for assistance.

The recovery center is located in the conference room at the Miami Civic Center, 129 Fifth St. NW. The center is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and Thursday.

Residents and business owners should contact their insurance companies and register with FEMA before visiting the recovery center. For FEMA registration, call 800-621-3362 or go online at DisasterAssistance.gov. A FEMA app is available for cellphones.

Information needed to register includes address of damaged location, current mailing address and phone number, insurance information, total household income, routing and account number for checking or savings account to allow FEMA to directly transfer disaster aid to a bank account, and a description of the disaster damage and losses.

Counties eligible for disaster aid are Alfalfa, Canadian, Cherokee, Craig, Creek, Delaware, Garfield, Kay, Kingfisher, LeFlore, Logan, Mayes, Muskogee, Noble, Nowata, Okmulgee, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Payne, Pottawatomie, Rogers, Sequoyah, Tulsa, Wagoner, Washington and Woods.

Disaster assistance to homeowners and renters includes grants to help pay for temporary housing, home repair and other disaster-related expenses not met by insurance or other assistance programs.

Low-interest loans are available from the Small Business Administration to businesses, private nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters to cover residential and business losses from the disaster.

For information on SBA disaster assistance, call 800-659-2955 or visit www.sba.gov/disaster or by emailing disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.

This story has been updated to correct the FEMA registration phone number and the recovery center's hours of operations.

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