Sept. 16 is the Final Day to Register for Federal Assistance

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 13 -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency issued the following news release:

Monday, Sept. 16 is the final day for South Texans with damages from the June severe storms and flooding to register for FEMA grants. The Texas counties designated for federal individual assistance are: Cameron, Willacy and Hidalgo.

FEMA assistance to individuals and families recovering from the floods in South Texas tops $11.7 million. This includes $10.1 million in FEMA housing assistance and $1.6 million in other needs assistance. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved more than $12.2 million in low-interest disaster loans. And, the National Flood Insurance Program approved claims worth more than $43 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. Recovery centers will remain open after the registration deadline to provide other assistance and resources to survivors. Hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.

The filing deadline to return SBA loan applications for physical property damage is also Sept. 16. 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 [email protected]. 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.

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.