Union County declared eligible for disaster assistance Aftermath of severe weather in early May

Union and Hamilton counties on July 22 were designated eligible for federal Public Assistance, PA, to help with costs incurred in clean-up work following severe storms which struck the region in early May.

That brings the total number of counties to eight, according to officials from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, IEMA, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA.

The July 22 major disaster declaration covers disaster-related infrastructure costs caused by the severe storm, tornadoes and flooding that occurred May 8-9. It provides federal reimbursement to state and local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations. 

Under the PA cost-share program, FEMA funds 75 percent of the approved cost.

Eligible work includes debris removal, emergency protective measures and the repair or replacement of damaged public facilities such as roads, bridges, buildings, utilities and recreation areas. The state manages the grants for all projects.

The main goal of FEMA’s PA program is to restore eligible facilities to their pre-disaster levels.

Funds are available that allow certain projects to be rebuilt to a higher standard if it can be shown the increased costs will save taxpayers money in the future.

Previously designated counties eligible for PA assistance are Franklin, Gallatin, Jackson, Randolph, Saline and Williamson.

Any eligible organizations in the eight counties interested in applying can contact IEMA at 217-782-8719.

SBA assistance

Illinois residents and businesses affected by severe storms and tornadoes that occurred on May 8 can apply for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration, SBA administrator Karen Mills announced.

Mills made the loans available in response to a letter from Gov. Pat Quinn on July 13 requesting a disaster declaration by the SBA.  

The declaration covers Jackson and Williamson counties and the adjacent counties of Franklin, Johnson, Perry, Pope, Randolph, Saline and Union in Illinois and Perry County in Missouri.

Loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate.   

"Homeowners and renters are eligible for loans up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property,” said Frank Skaggs, director of SBA’s Disaster Field Operations Center in Atlanta, Ga.

Judith Roussel, SBA’s Illinois district director, said,  “Low-interest federal disaster loans are available to homeowners, renters, businesses and non-profit organizations of all sizes whose property was damaged or destroyed by the severe storms and tornadoes.”

Businesses and non-profit organizations of any size may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory, and other business assets. 

The SBA also provides mitigation funds to disaster victims based on 20 percent of the verified physical damage.  These funds are designed to help borrowers pay for protective measures to minimize damages of the same kind in the future.  

For small businesses, and most private, non-profit organizations of all sizes, the SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans, EIDLs, to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster. 

EIDL assistance is available regardless of whether the business suffered any physical property damage.

Interest rates are as low as 2.437 percent for homeowners and renters, and 4 percent for businesses, with terms up to 30 years.  Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition.

Individuals and businesses can obtain information and loan applications by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 1-800-659-2955 (1-800-877-8339 for the hearing impaired), Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. EDT, or by sending an email to <a href="mailto:disastercustomerservice@sba.gov">disastercustomerservice@sba.gov</a>. 

Business loan applications can also be downloaded from the SBA website at <a href="http://www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance">www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance</a>.

Completed applications should be returned to the Centers or mailed to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Rd., Fort Worth, Texas 76155.

Victims can apply for disaster loans from SBA’s secure website at <a href="https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/">https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/</a>.

The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is Sept. 14, 2009.  The deadline to return economic injury applications is April 16, 2010.