Disaster Housing Assistance for Kansas Tops $500,000
Release Date: February 22, 2002
Release Number: 1402-15
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Emporia, Kan. -- State officials and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today that more than $540,000 in disaster housing assistance has been approved to aid victims of the severe ice storms that affected 35 Kansas counties.
"Grants from our Disaster Housing program assist persons who were unable to stay in their homes due to loss of heat and electricity and had to find alternative accommodations," said Carlos Mitchell, federal coordinating officer for FEMA.
FEMA and the State of Kansas also provide grants to eligible applicants who had to do minimal repairs to make their homes habitable.
To date, 5,766 applicants have called the registration number to seek help and nearly 300 applications are being taken daily.
"We encourage residents who were displaced from their homes during the storms or received damaged to their property to call the toll-free registration number," said Chuck Bredahl, Kansas state coordinating officer.
Calling FEMA's tele-registration number 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) is the first and most important step in applying for aid. For speech- or hearing-impaired, the TTY number is 1-800-462-7585. Hours are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., daily.
Disaster Recovery Centers also have been opened in the Kansas City area to provide residents with state and federal disaster aid program information. The centers are located at the Argentine Community Center, 2800 Metropolitan Ave., Kansas City and in Overland Park at National American University, Overland Park Extension, 10310 Mastin. Operation hours for the centers are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
In addition to the centers, traveling disaster teams will visit various communities throughout the declared counties to provide disaster program information to residents affected by the storms
Last Modified: Wednesday, 27-Aug-2003 16:27:58