In The News

By Nicole Shupe Examiner editor

Grimes County residents who were impacted by Hurricane Harvey may now apply for individual assistance, unemployment assistance and FEMA, courtesy of an amended Presidential Disaster Declaration.

“Making sure Grimes County individuals and the communities can get help with disaster assistance is really important,” said U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady. “I credit the work of the Grimes County Judge, mayors and local officials in making sure we could make the case to be added to the disaster declaration.”

According to Brady, in order to meet the requirements for the declaration inclusion, county officials had to document the public damage to infrastructure, such as roads, facilities and other factors, along with learning from individuals what damage had been done to their homes and businesses.

“Unfortunately, for our area of Texas, this is not our first rodeo when it comes to hurricanes,” said Brady. “(County officials) did the hard work to bring that together and we did our share in working with the state and FEMA to get the declaration, but this is really important to families and small businesses hit by the storm for debris removal assistance and for the county after they had determined what infrastructure damage has been done, so taxpayers will get a break.”

Private insurance and the Federal Flood Insurance Program will take precedence over FEMA aid, but Brady cautioned those who apply to not be discouraged by a denial. Many times, a denial letter regarding FEMA assistance requires additional information to be provided, so applicants need to fully read any correspondence.

“Contact FEMA, make the application, even if you don’t know if you are eligible do it anyway, because if you are not eligible for direct FEMA assistance, there may be other programs through the Small Business Administration, Housing and Urban Development, etc., that may help you,” said Brady. “There have already been hundreds of thousands of Texans who have signed up, so get in the queue.”

Other assistance options

Rigoberto Gonzalez-Nossa, the Small Business Administration (SBA) representative for Grimes County, expressed the same sentiment.

“If you are a home owner or renter, FEMA may refer you to SBA,” said Gonzalez-Nossa. “SBA disaster loans are the primary source of money to pay for repair or replacement costs not fully covered by insurance or other compensation.”

Through the SBA, homeowners may borrow up to $200,000 to repair or replace their primary residence, while homeowners and renters may borrow up to $40,000 to replace personal property, including vehicles. Local businesses may also be eligible for loans up to $2 million to repair or replace property damage caused by Hurricane Harvey. Currently, the deadline for SBA disaster loan applications is Tuesday, Oct. 24.

In addition, the amended Presidential Disaster Declaration qualifies Grimes county residents for disaster unemployment assistance through the Texas Workforce Commission. Applications from individuals whose employment, or self-employment, was impacted by Hurricane Harvey can be submitted until Nov. 13.

The disaster unemployment assistance is limited to those individuals who live in, work in, or travel through the 41 counties impacted by Harvey, including Grimes.

Short-term vs. long-term

In addition to the amended disaster declaration, officials in Washington D.C. acted to fund $15 billion to Texas to fund FEMA for housing debris removal, rebuilding of public infrastructure and funding the flood insurance program.

“We have a number of Texans who are waiting to get their claims paid, both FEMA and the flood insurance program are running out of money over the next few weeks because of the unexpected impact of Maria,” said Brady. “I voted for this strongly, because nothing could be worse for Texans, who are waiting to rebuild their homes or get the debris taken away, for the federal government to allow those funds to dry up.”

As the United States and Texas continue to rebuild after a heavy hurricane season, millions if not billions of dollars will be needed to repair homes, businesses, schools and other structures.

“These are only our short-term immediate needs that are being funded, Texas may well need more than $100 billion help from the federal government, because this was such an unprecedented hurricane, the biggest in U.S. history,” said Brady. “Once the state of Texas gets a plan together for those long-term recovery needs, we will fight for that in Congress. I and the other Texas delegation members have already met with the House leadership and the White House about this and they are preparing a long-term recovery package for November.”

Applications for individual disaster assistance may be filed at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-3362. Applications with the U.S. Small Business Administration may be filed at disasterloan.sba.gov/ela. Disaster Unemployment Aid may be filed at www.texasworkforce.org.

“If you go through the process and if you need any help let our office know and someone will walk you through the process,” said Brady.

For any questions about filing or for assistance, contact Brady’s District Office at 877-441-5700.