DES MOINES, Iowa – It has been one month since the August 10 derecho impacted Iowa. Since then more than $7.1 million in federal assistance has been approved for Iowans.
FEMA has approved more than $3.1 million in Individual Assistance grants for more than 900 households. The Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved more than $4 million in disaster loans for homeowners, renters, and small businesses.
Survivors in Benton, Boone, Cedar, Jasper, Linn, Marshall, Polk, Poweshiek, Scott, Story and Tama counties have until October 19 to register for disaster assistance.
Applicants may register in the following ways:
- Go online to DisasterAssistance.gov.
- Call 800-621-3362 (TTY: 800-462-7585) between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Central Time, seven days a week. Multilingual operators are available.
- Download the FEMA Mobile App for smartphones.
A Disaster Recovery Center opened in Linn County on September 2 to give survivors options to submit documents for their disaster assistance application. The DRC is located at:
Veterans Memorial Stadium Parking Lot
950 Rockford Rd. SW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
Hours are: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday thru Saturday
Closed on Sunday
(Enter the parking lot from the corner of Veterans Memorial Drive and Kurt Warner Way.)
SBA provides low-interest, long-term disaster loans to uninsured or underinsured businesses, homeowners and renters. SBA has also established a virtual Disaster Loan Outreach Center to answer questions about SBA’s disaster loan program, explain the application process and help each business owner complete an electronic loan application.
The Virtual Disaster Loan Outreach Center is open Mondays – Sundays, 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. For more information visit FOCWAssistance@sba.gov, or call (800) 659-2955.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 18 Iowa counties as primary natural disaster areas, enabling producers who suffered losses because of the derecho to be eligible for emergency loans.
The counties eligible for emergency loans are Benton, Boone, Cedar, Clinton, Dallas, Guthrie, Hamilton, Hardin, Jasper, Johnson, Jones, Linn, Marshall, Polk, Poweshiek, Scott, Story and Tama.
The USDA natural disaster designations allow the Farm Service Agency (FSA) to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs, including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation, or the refinancing of certain debts.
The deadline to apply for these emergency loans is May 3, 2021. FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available, and repayment ability. Click here for more information.