Time is ticking for those of you who have not yet filed for individual assistance for damage done during the June 29th derecho.
Frank Blake with FEMA says 20 counties in West Virginia received that assistance. The counties included: Boone, Cabell, Clay, Fayette, Greenbrier, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Raleigh, Roane, Tyler, Webster, and Wood.
The funding is for homeowners, renters and business owner that suffered damage.
“In most cases, most of that assistance went to home repairs and that was to provide money for essential repairs to make homes safe again and secure,” according to Blake.
Blake says as of Tuesday there were 5,029 claims filed by residents and business owners in the impacted counties. He says there were more than 1,500 visits to FEMA’s Disaster Recovery Centers when they were operating in the weeks after the storm.
The deadline to apply for individual assistance was originally set for Nov. 19. But that was moved back a month to this Wednesday, Dec. 19.
Blake says there are two ways to sign up for individual assistance.
“If you are going online to www.disasterassistance.gov, you have until midnight Wednesday. If you’re calling our 1-800 number, 621-3362, you need to call by 10pm Wednesday.”
If you miss that deadline to apply for derecho assistance you’re out of luck according to Blake.