FEMA: Less Than One Week Remains for South Texans to Register for Federal Assistance

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 10 -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency issued the following news release:

South Texans with damages from the June severe storms and flooding have less than one week to register for FEMA grants to help with housing repairs and rebuilding as well as other needs. The final day to register is Sept. 16.

The Texas counties designated for federal individual assistance are: Cameron, Willacy and Hildago.

FEMA assistance to individuals and families recovering from the floods in South Texas tops $11.5 million. This includes $9.9 million in FEMA housing assistance and $1.5 million in other needs assistance. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved more than $11.3 million in low-interest disaster loans, including $10.8 million for homes and $476,100 for businesses. And, the National Flood Insurance Program approved claims worth more than $42 million.

Registering with FEMA is easy and there are multiple ways to do so before the Sept. 16 deadline:

* Go online to www.disasterassistance.gov.

* Call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362. Phone lines are open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. CDT, seven days a week until further notice. Multilingual operators are on duty.

* Use FEMA's disaster app on your smartphone. If you haven't downloaded the app yet, you can go to www.fema.gov/mobile-app.

* Register at one of three Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs). Check this link for locations and times: https://egateway.fema.gov/ESF6/DRCLocator. The recovery centers are open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Information about how to apply for low-interest SBA loans for businesses and residents is available online at www.SBA.gov/disaster. You may also call 800-659-2955 or email DisasterCustomerService@sba.gov. Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing may call 800-877-8339.

SBA offers federal low-interest disaster loans to businesses of all sizes, most private nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters. The filing deadline to return SBA loan applications for physical property damage is also Sept. 16.

For further information, visit the South Texas disaster webpage at www.fema.gov/disaster/4454, the FEMA Region 6 Twitter account at https://twitter.com/FEMARegion6 or the Texas Division of Emergency Management website at https://www.tdem.texas.gov.