Thread: FEMA: 85,000 applications, $19M paid so far

FEMA: 85,000 applications, $19M paid so far

Paul Nussbaum, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Posted: Friday, November 2, 2012, 12:26 PM

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has paid out nearly $19 million so far to victims of Hurricane Sandy, primarily for temporary rentals or other housing.

More than 85,000 people have applied for assistance, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate said Friday.

Two disaster recovery centers opened Friday in New Jersey where residents can apply for assistance, in Brick (41 Drum Point Rd.) and in Cape May Courthouse (30 Mechanics St.), and residents can also apply by phone (800-621-3362) or on the Web (www.disasterassistance.gov).

Gov. Christie was scheduled to visit the FEMA center in Brick this afternoon.

Fugate said the focus of FEMA's efforts now, in addition to helping victims get shelter, was to increase supples of gasoline and to restore power.

The Department of Homeland Security is temporarily waiving some maritime rules to allow foreign oil tankers coming from the Gulf of Mexico to enter Northeastern ports to help ease the fuel shortages.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she is temporarily waiving the Jones Act, which prohibits international cargo ships from transporting oil between U.S. ports.

The American Red Cross said it has 30 shelters open in New Jersey to house storm victims, and four mobile kitchens are operating in hard-hit areas, capable of serving 80,000 meals a day.

FEMA said it has more than 2,300 workers in the storm area.

After a resident applies for assistance, a FEMA inspector will be assigned to assess the damage and determine what assistance the resident qualifies for. Then a check can be issued, or in the case of business owners, a referral made to the Small Business Administration for low-interest loan assistance.
These are the kinds of assistance available from FEMA:
Rental payments for temporary housing for those whose homes are unlivable. Initial assistance may be provided for up to three months for homeowners and at least one month for renters. Assistance may be extended if requested after the initial period based on a review of individual applicant requirements.

Grants for home repairs and replacement of essential household items not covered by insurance to make damaged dwellings safe, sanitary, and functional.

Grants to replace personal property and help meet medical, dental, funeral, transportation, and other serious disaster-related needs not covered by insurance or other federal, state and charitable aid programs.

Unemployment payments up to 26 weeks for workers who temporarily lost jobs because of the disaster and who do not qualify for state benefits, such as self-employed individuals.

Low-interest loans to cover residential losses not fully compensated by insurance. Loans are available up to $200,000 for the primary residence and $40,000 for personal property, including renter losses. Loans are available up to $2 million for business property losses not fully compensated by insurance.

Loans up to $2 million for small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and most private, nonprofit organizations of all sizes that have suffered disaster-related cash flow problems and need funds for working capital to recover from the disaster's adverse economic impact. This loan, in combination with a property loss loan, cannot exceed a total of $2 million.

Loans up to $500,000 for farmers, ranchers, and aquaculture operators to cover production and property losses, excluding primary residence.

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Contact Paul Nussbaum at 215-854-4587 or pnussbaum@phillynews.com

FEMA: 85,000 applications, $19M paid so far

November 2, 2012, 12:35 PM ET
City’s First FEMA Mobile Disaster Center Rolls Into Coney Island

By Pervaiz Shallwani

Kevin Hagen for The Wall Street JournalRichard Howard waits on a phone line with FEMA as FEMA personnel help applicants from a mobile center in the parking lot of MCU Park in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn.

On Coney Island, the city’s first Federal Emergency Management Agency mobile disaster recovery center rolled in around 6 a.m. Friday morning and was met by hundreds of people who have been waiting for any sign of assistance in this poor, flood-ravaged beach community.

The Winnebago is powered to give residents a place where they can register for FEMA assistance but also get an understanding of some of the local, state and federal assistance services available to them.

“We want people to get into the system,” FEMA spokesman Ken Higginbotham said. “We want people to recognize, once they register, there might be other programs for them as well.”

Joining FEMA was the Small Business Administration, city human resources and City Harvest, which distributed water, coconut water, bananas and lunch box of chips, tuna salad and bread.

Mobile centers will be arriving in all five boroughs and one on Long Island throughout the day. The units usually spend a day in a neighborhood and then move on, though that can change based on need, Higginbotham said.

Shortly after touchdown at MCU Park, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team, more than 500 assistants began fanning out across the neighborhood where there is no power, food and water are low and cell phone service is scant, encouraging people to register.

More In Sandy

• Cuomo: Fuel Shortage to Ease as Harbor Reopens
• Waiting for Assistance, Staten Island Neighbors Help Each Other
• ConEd: Part of Manhattan to Get Power Friday
• Red Hook Focuses on Rebuilding
• Weather Journal: Another Storm Possible Next Week

Those affected can register by phone or email for FEMA service, but the mobile unit offers people another way to get into the system.

The mobile unit was not supposed to be up and running until 10 a.m., but the first customers began arriving at 7 a.m. to register for FEMA assistance, officials said.

By 10 a.m., more than 200 people had visited the site, and the line was about 200 feet long and growing.

A weary Tasha Andrews, 42 years old, lost everything on the first floor of a two-story apartment at West 19^th Street and Mermaid Avenue.

“I came here and applied for assistance,” she said. “I am hopeful. I am always hopeful. Anything is possible.”

Asked if she was frustrated, Andrews–whose two children, husband and mother have been staying with family in Bay Ridge said– “a little bit.”

“I am ready to get back to my own home and to work,” she said. “My kids are ready to get back to normal.”

Samlal and Davida Ramnarine, both 40, lost everything in their first floor apartment at West 22^nd Street and Surf Avenue, which was under more than two feet of water.

“Everything was gone,” Davida Ramnarine said. “The furniture, the TV, the fridge the stove. The whole apartment flooded. I was pretty excited to know that they are here. We gotta wait and see what happens. They say they will call in 14 days.”

“Two days we didn’t have any food. It all went bad.”

Yesterday, the couple said they took a bus to get a hot meal at Popeye’s.

“At least the bus is free,” Samlal Ramnarine said.

There were other signs of relief as well on Coney Island. At West 5th Street and Surf Avenue, a state Army National Guard from New Winsdor, N.Y., unit had arrived Friday morning with supplies including MREs (meals ready to eat), granola bars, cases of water and frozen bags of green beans and breaded chicken cutlets.

Lines stretched more than two blocks with some people arriving with shopping carts, while NYPD officers helped some elderly and less able people carry boxes back to their homes.

“It’s very refreshing,” said David DeOliveira, 44, an accountant. “I am ready to dance in the streets naked. I am just happy to have anything right now.

DeOliveira, who lives in the gated Sea Gate community of the south edge of Coney Island has been living with friends in a nearby housing project with his six children. He says the damage to his neighborhood is so bad, he has not been able to even see the damage to his home.

“I can’t even get in to see it,” he said. “I am told it’s completely, it’s just in pieces.”

City’s First FEMA Mobile Disaster Center Rolls Into Coney Island - Metropolis - WSJ

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