Harris County Recovery Centers To Close; FEMA Mitigation, SBA Open
Release Date: March 4, 2009
Release Number: 1791-437
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AUSTIN, Texas -- The last FEMA/State Disaster Recovery Centers in Harris County will close March 5, a reflection of Texas' continuing progress in recovering from Hurricane Ike.
The recovery centers are located in Houston at the Old Freeman Library at 16603 Buccaneer Lane and in Seabrook at Miramar Shopping Center at 2004 Bayport Blvd. The centers are open 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. through March 5.
"The Harris County recovery centers have played a critical role in providing face-to-face assistance to help thousands of area residents move forward in their recovery from the disaster," said Brad Harris, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's federal coordinating officer in Texas. "Although these last recovery centers are closing in Harris County, FEMA remains in the county and in Texas devoting itself to helping Texans recover from Hurricane Ike through a diversity of efforts."
As many as 24 disaster recovery centers have served Harris County. There have been almost 53,000 visits to the centers from homeowners, renters and business owners.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) continues to operate disaster loan outreach centers in Harris County, and FEMA representatives are available at the centers to provide assistance. The locations of the SBA centers in Harris County and elsewhere in Texas can be found at www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_program_office/sba_tx_ofc.pdf on the Web.
Among FEMA's other continuing services in Harris County are five sites that are offering homeowners information on how to be better protect their homes from disasters.
The schedule of times and stores where the FEMA hazard mitigation specialists are located is at www.fema.gov/hazard/hurricane/2008/ike/mitigation_help on the Web.
Residents also can follow up on their applications at www.fema.gov, or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362), TTY 1-800-462-7585 for the speech- and hearing-impaired. The numbers are available 6 a.m. to midnight daily.
FEMA leads and supports the nation in a risk-based, comprehensive emergency management system of preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation, to reduce the loss of life and property and protect the nation from all hazards including natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 04-Mar-2009 12:15:51