The deadline for victims of the late-June floods to apply for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and to apply for a disaster loan through the U.S. Small Business Administration was extended on Tuesday by two weeks, according to a news release from the Governor's Office.
People who live in one of the 12 affected counties - Clay, Fayette, Greenbrier, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Monroe, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Roane, Summers and Webster - have until Sept. 7 to apply for aid.
"I am grateful that FEMA has, once again, recognized the devastating impact of this flooding on West Virginians," Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said in the release. "Federal assistance has already reached thousands of our residents as they rebuild homes and lives. By extending the time frame those affected by the flooding have to register with FEMA, we are allowing even more families in need to access this support as communities continue on the path toward long-term recovery."
The state requested the extension Tuesday, only to find out hours later that its request had been approved. In the request letter, Jimmy Gianato, director of the state's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, asked for the extension because the state feels that not all flood victims eligible for assistance are aware they can get help.
The number of people in the affected counties who have applied for aid has slowed down recently.
As of Aug. 2, there were 8,245 total registrations for Individual Assistance across the 12 affected counties with $36.6 million total Individual and Households Program grants approved - $30.9 million going toward housing assistance and $5.7 million for other needs, according to a news release at the time. Another $33.7 million in SBA disaster loans was approved by then.
From then until the end of Monday, there were only 320 more registrations and $1.9 million Individual and Households Program grants approved.
The most recent data available on the number of SBA disaster loans are from Aug. 10, which shows that 217 loan applications were approved in Kanawha County, the most approvals for any county of the 12. In total, $16.4 million in disaster loans were approved for Kanawha. Closely following Kanawha was Greenbrier County with 200 loans approved, totaling almost $12.2 million in aid.
Gianato, who doubles at the State Coordinating Officer, also wrote in the letter that the state is developing "additional messaging" to tell people about other programs that require FEMA and SBA applications prior to participating.
"We are working to encourage folks to register and see if they qualify through SBA in addition to the direct individual assistance," said Jessica Tice, spokeswoman for the Governor's Office, in an email. "We want to make sure we've made every effort to capture everyone impacted."
It isn't necessary to visit a Disaster Recovery Center to register with FEMA, although a list of available centers can be found online at www.fema.gov/drc. People may also apply for FEMA assistance by calling call 800-621-3362, (TTY) 1-800-462-7585 for the deaf or hard of hearing or by visiting www.disasterassistance.gov.
Loans from the SBA are available to businesses, homeowners and renters. The first step to apply for an SBA loan is to register with FEMA. SBA can offer "physical disaster loans" to cover the cost of property, damaged machinery and lost inventory worth up to $2 million, according to a previous Gazette-Mail report.
Tice would not rule out the possibility that Tomblin will direct the state to request another extension, but said he will review the situation again before the deadline to make a decision.
Reach Jake Jarvis at jake.jarvis@wvgazettemail.com, Facebook.com/newsroomjake, 304-348-7939 or follow @NewsroomJake on Twitter.