Ike Update: More Than $202 Million in Disaster Assistance Approved
Release Date: October 10, 2008
Release Number: 1791-114
» More Information on Texas Hurricane Ike
AUSTIN, Texas -- Four weeks after Hurricane Ike made landfall, Texans who were affected are using a variety of state and federal resources to help them regain control of their lives and move forward with their recovery.
The Texas Governor's Division of Emergency Management (GDEM) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), partners in the state's recovery, provide the following summary of ongoing disaster assistance as of close of business on Thursday, Oct. 9:
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Nearly 688,000 registrations have been received from 29 Texas counties designated as disaster areas in Ike's wake. (On Oct. 9, five additional Texas counties were made eligible for Individual Assistance programs: Gregg, Harrison, Rusk, Shelby and Smith. Shelby County was also made eligible for all categories of Public Assistance. Information for these counties will be included in future updates.)
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More than $186 million in disaster assistance under the Individuals and Households Program has been approved for Hurricane Ike recovery. This includes more than $155 million in Housing Assistance and more than $31 million in Other Needs Assistance.
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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved nearly $16 million in low-interest disaster loans. The SBA has issued more than 341,000 applications for home loans and nearly 71,000 applications for business loans.
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Nearly 10,000 applications for Disaster Unemployment Assistance have been filed. The filing deadline is Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008.
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More than 2,300 inspectors have conducted nearly 210,000 home inspections to date.
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, local governments and contractors have cleared more than 6.7 million cubic yards of debris from disaster-affected counties.
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The Corps has installed nearly 11,200 temporary roofs through Operation Blue Roof and collected nearly 27,000 Right-of-Entry forms.
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For eligible residents who still cannot return home, FEMA is providing short-term, transitional sheltering by directly paying hotels and motels for evacuees who are lodging there. More than 7,700 eligible individuals and families are checked in under the program.
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Texans seeking rental housing can search more than 24,500 Texas rental properties in FEMA's Housing Portal, which is available online at asd.fema.gov/inter/hportal/home.htm.
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FEMA has begun moving some families into manufactured housing. Recovery staff has conducted more than 3,650 pre-placement interviews to identify residents who might qualify for the program.
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There are 39 FEMA-State Disaster Recovery Centers open in affected counties, offering face-to-face assistance to hurricane victims (See the following Web site for up-to-date locations: www.txdps.state.tx.us/dem/pages/dr1791_drc_list.htm). Nearly 50,000 visits have been made to the centers.
- More than 225 community relations field specialists - including speakers of Spanish, Vietnamese, Thai, Laotian and Cambodian - are canvassing areas hit by the hurricane, distributing information about FEMA programs and reaching out to community groups.
To register for assistance, disaster victims should go online to www.fema.gov or call the toll-free number 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or (TTY) 1-800-462-7585. Applicants should register only once with FEMA.
More information is available online at www.fema.gov or www.txdps.state.tx.us/dem.
FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.
Last Modified: Tuesday, 14-Oct-2008 09:02:21