CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it’s awarded just short of $3 million to victims of the April storms in West Virginia which included several tornadoes.
FEMA began meeting with residents after a federal disaster declaration was declared in 11 counties a month ago.
“Since then, FEMA has provided survivors with more than $2.98 million in federal disaster assistance to help them recover,” the agency said in a Friday news release.
The disaster declaration covers Boone, Cabell, Fayette, Kanawha, Lincoln, Marshall, Nicholas, Ohio, Putnam, Wayne and Wetzel counties.
Most of the money, $1.7 million, has gone to homeowners and renters for housing needs. FEMA said it has also provided $1.2 million to help storm victims with things like childcare and some medical expenses.
“In just one month, West Virginians have made tremendous strides in recovering from the early April storms, and we at FEMA are honored to have been part of that process,” Federal Coordinating Officer Jeff Jones said. “FEMA’s mission is to help people. We have hundreds of people here in West Virginia to do exactly that.”
FEMA said its interacted with nearly 5,700 residents from the 11 counties covered. It has visited 22,000 residences along with a number of churches and businesses. The FEMA team has completed 922 home inspections.
The deadline to apply for assistance is July 22.
There are four ways to apply:
–visit DisasterAssistance.gov
–download the FEMA mobile app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store;
–call FEMA’s toll-free helpline at 800-621-3362, open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern Time with language translation available. If you use a relay service such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, provide FEMA with your number for that service when you apply
–visit one of our Disaster Recovery Centers.