WILLISTON – Vermonters impacted by July’s severe storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides have one more month to apply for federal disaster assistance, which may include housing repair grants from FEMA or low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The application deadline is November 25.
For the July 9-11 disaster, individuals and households in the designated areas of Addison, Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Lamoille, Orleans, and Washington counties should apply by the deadline.
For the July 29-31 disaster, individuals and households in the designated areas of Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties, are also encouraged to apply as soon as possible.
Vermonters affected by both July storms should submit separate applications for each event.
Survivors who had loss or damage should apply with FEMA even if they don’t have repair estimates or insurance settlements yet. To be considered, people in the impacted areas need to register with FEMA to begin the process. FEMA will work with survivors to identify what information is needed to determine eligibility.
For those who would like to speak to a FEMA specialist about applying or have questions about their application and would like to speak to someone face-to-face, three Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Vermont. For information on DRC locations in your area, visit .fema.gov/drc.
There are also three other ways to apply for FEMA: go online to DisasterAssistance.gov; call the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-3362. Phone lines operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (in your time zone), seven days a week. Help is available in most languages.
To Apply to SBA: apply online and receive additional disaster assistance information at sba.gov/disaster; call the SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET; Monday through Friday or send an email to [email protected] for more information; for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.
On October 15, it was announced that funds for the SBA Disaster Loan Program have been fully expended. While no new SBA Disaster loans can be issued until Congress appropriates additional funding, SBA remains committed to supporting disaster survivors. Applications will continue to be accepted and processed to ensure individuals and businesses are prepared to receive assistance once funding becomes available.
