Aug. 14 is the deadline for businesses and individuals of 35 mainly southern Missouri counties impacted by spring flooding and storms to register and apply for assistance.
Funding is available through a disaster declaration approved following storms between April 28 and May 11.
Citizens can register for assistance with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and apply for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Federal and state officials spoke to reporters during a conference call Tuesday.
“To date we [FEMA] have 1,888 households that have received assistance for a total exceeding $11.8 million [in individual assistance]," said Patrick Baker, flood recovery coordinator for Missouri.
Qualifying for a loan does not mean a person has to take the loan. Citizens can enter the SBA disaster loan process by registering with FEMA at 1-800-621-3362 or at www.disasterassistance.gov.
As of Tuesday, roughly $15.6 million in SBA low-interest loans and over $61 million through the national Flood Insurance Program had been approved. Officials say even if you have flood insurance you could still qualify for assistance.
Ron Broxton, the State Emergency Management Agency’s Recovery Division manager, says public assistance is “just getting ramped up.” So far, he says, about $60 million in disaster-related costs have been identified for Missouri cities, counties and nonprofits. Typically, qualifying entities are responsible for about 15 percent of recovery costs, while the federal and state government combined to fund 90 percent. Those in seven mainly eastern Missouri counties have until Aug. 12 to apply for public assistance.
Additionally, Aug. 17 is the deadline for those living in eight southern Missouri counties who lost work due to spring flooding to apply for disaster unemployment assistance. It applies to those living in Christian, Crawford, Dent, Greene, Iron, Sainte Genevieve, Wayne and Wright
More information and ways to sign up is available at recovery.mo.gov or by calling 2-1-1.
This story has been updated from its original version.