NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Do not wait to apply for federal disaster assistance to help with expenses stemming from last December’s tornadoes in middle and west Tennessee. The deadline is fast approaching.
Residents of Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Gibson, Henderson, Henry, Lake, Obion, Stewart, Sumner, Weakley and Wilson counties have until Tuesday, March 15, to apply for disaster assistance from the FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
Once you apply for FEMA disaster assistance, you may be referred to the SBA. The SBA offers low-interest disaster loans for businesses, homeowners and renters. There’s no obligation to accept a loan, but you may miss out on the largest source of federal disaster recovery funds if you don’t apply. Currently, interest rates for physical loss loans are as low as 1.38% for homeowners and renters. For businesses, it’s at 2.830% and for nonprofits it’s 1.875%.
Applying for FEMA Individual Assistance is free and there are several ways to create your application:
- Online at DisasterAssistance.gov.
- Using the FEMA app, which can be easily downloaded to a smartphone, or
- Call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362. Specialists are available from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time, seven days a week. Multilingual services are available.
If you use a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others:
- Update the "Current Phone" field using the relay service phone number
- Add "Relay Service" to the Note box; provide FEMA with your number.
Under a Major Disaster Declaration, residents in the 12 counties listed above are eligible to apply for FEMA Individual Assistance. This program provides grants for temporary housing (such as rental assistance or reimbursement for hotel costs), repair or replace a homeowner’s primary residence, repair storm-damaged privately-owned access routes, such as driveways, and other uninsured or under-insured disaster-related expenses including moving and storage fees, childcare, medical, dental expenses and certain funeral costs.
Survivors are encouraged to file insurance claims for damage to their homes, personal property and vehicles before they apply for FEMA assistance. FEMA grants do not have to be repaid, and disaster assistance is nontaxable and does not affect eligibility for Social Security, Medicaid or other federal benefits.
For more information on Tennessee’s disaster recovery, visit www.tn.gov/tema.html and www.fema.gov/disaster/4637. You may also follow FEMA on www.facebook.com/fema and Twitter@FEMARegion4.