CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A milestone in recovery after the June Flood in West Virginia came Wednesday when the Federal Emergency Management Agency was closing its last three Disaster Recovery Centers in the Mountain State.
Those remaining sites were in Rainelle and White Sulphur Springs in Greenbrier County and in Clendenin in Kanawha County. The doors were shutting at those sites for good at 5 p.m.
Even after the closures, “Help is still available for people,” said Bob Howard, FEMA spokesperson.
That assistance is an option through the FEMA number at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
MORE read latest FEMA county-by-county numbers
“The person can pull up their application and, basically, do the same thing that they do at the DRC — walk them through that application and help them provide an additional information,” Howard said.
Another option for help is DisasterAssistance.gov.
The deadline to register for FEMA Disaster Assistance is Wednesday, Sept. 7.
“We don’t want to miss anybody,” said Howard. He cautioned, “If you haven’t registered by that date and you find out down the line that you’re going to need assistance with your recovery, there’s no recourse of coming back in.”
As of Wednesday morning, 8,791 West Virginia households had registered with FEMA and $39.4 million in Disaster Assistance funding had been approved. That grant funding can be used for temporary housing, essential home repairs, personal property replacement and other disaster-related needs.
The largest numbers of registrations came from Greenbrier County, Kanawha County, Nicholas County and Clay County.
Additionally, the U.S. Small Business Administration had approved 714 loans totaling $46.7 million for homeowners, renters, and businesses
After the June 25 storms, a Federal Disaster Declaration was issued for 12 counties: Clay, Fayette, Greenbrier, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Monroe, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Roane, Summers and Webster.