Iowa Disaster Facts at a Glance

Overview

• DR-4421 Major Disaster Declaration issued March 23, 2019
  • Incident Period: March 12 and continuing

Current Status:

• 9 counties designated for Individual Assistance
  • Harrison, Fremont, Louisa, Mills, Monona, Pottawatamie, Scott, Shelby, Woodbury
• 56 counties have been approved for assistance to local governments for categories of work A-G.
• 2 counties approved for categories A and B.
• As of May 13, 234 Requests for Public Assistance have been approved.
• DR-4430 Major Disaster Declaration issued April 29, 2019 for the Sac & Fox of the Mississippi in Iowa Tribe (Meskwaki Nation).
  • Direct declaration to the Tribe (grantee)
  • Eligible assistance: Public Assistance and Hazard Mitigation
  • First direct disaster declaration for a federally recognized tribe in Iowa and in FEMA Region VII.

Individual Assistance:

Since the federal disaster declaration for Iowa, there have been 1,871 total registrations for Individual Assistance.

• As of May 12, Iowa homeowners and renters have received more than $12 million from the Individuals and Households Program (IHP), more than $10.7 million in housing assistance and more than $1.3 million in other needs assistance.
• As of May 13, 358 flood insurance claims have been filed. More than $6.4 million in claims have been paid to date.
• As of May 13, more than $22.3 million in U.S. Small Business Administration low-interest disaster loans have been approved for 237 homeowners and renters and 14 businesses.
• These amounts provided in financial assistance total more than $52.7 million.
  • As of May 11, DSA has visited 8,838 homes (interactions with 5,699 survivors).

Disaster Survivor Assistance (DSA)

• As of May 13, there is one DSA team each conducting community outreach in Louisa County and Scott County.

Disaster Recovery Centers

Disaster Recovery Centers are operating in areas affected by the storm and flooding. Recovery specialists from FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) provide information on available services, explain assistance programs and help survivors complete or check the status of their applications. Survivors can visit any open center for help. To find the nearest, go online at fema.gov/DRC or call the Disaster Assistance Helpline at 800-621-3362 or 800-462-7585 (TTY).

• There are currently 2 Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs) located in Fremont and Mills counties:
• Fremont County, 2014 290th Ave., Sidney, IA 51652, Thursday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Mills County, 111 Lacey St., Glenwood, IA 51534, Monday-Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

To date, the DRCs have assisted 1,345 visitors since the first one opened April 3.

• Small Business Administration (SBA): SBA representatives remain at all DRCs and at three additional locations, where customer service representatives provide information to individuals and businesses on the SBA disaster loan program. SBA locations (hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Mon. - Fri., until further notice; appointments are not required):
  • Disaster Loan Outreach Center Disaster Loan Outreach Center

Watson Steam Train and Depot Museum The Security Institute

800 W. Huron St. 4647 Stone Ave.

Missouri Valley, IA 51555 Sioux City, IA 51106

(Harrison County) (Woodbury County)

• SBA Business Recovery Center

Glenwood Resource Center

111 Lacey St.

Meyer Complex

2^nd floor, Room 208

Glenwood, IA 51534

(Mills County)

Latest News

• It is important that survivors who may have received FEMA disaster funds to use the money for the intended purpose and not for other recovery expenditures.

• It's important to read the determination letter carefully. If a survivor has spent the payment on anything other than its intended purpose, he or she may be denied disaster assistance in the future. In some cases, FEMA will ask that the money be returned. Receipts for all expenses are required and should be retained for at least three years because disaster funding may be subject to audit.
• Disaster assistance is not for regular living expenses.
• FEMA helps by sending a determination letter telling you what the money is being awarded for and listing the ways the money can be used. Some examples include:
• Home repairs (e.g., structure, water, septic and sewage systems).
• Rental assistance for rent and/or deposit.
• Repair or replacement of a flooded essential vehicle.
• Medical or dental care for an uninsured injury caused by the disaster.
• Repair of occupational specialized tools.
• Necessary educational materials (e.g., computers, school books, supplies).
• Moving and storage expenses related to the disaster.
• Increased child-care expenses.

• Louisa County was approved May 7 and Scott County was approved May 10 for Individual Assistance

• Deadline for individuals and businesses owners to register for FEMA assistance has been extended to July 1, 2019.

• FEMA's Direct Housing program has been approved for Fremont and Mills counties. FEMA has an internal housing task force that is dealing with the logistical-type issues associated with temporary housing units.

• As of May 10, FEMA staff completed 338 calls to survivors who may need a short-term, temporary housing unit to determine if the need still exists, and if so, for how many people. Those calls started May 2 and concluded May 8 and 22 have been identified as verified potential units (17 in Mills County and 5 in Fremont County).
• Iowa Homeland Security provided FEMA a list of RV dealers in the area that FEMA can contact to see if temporary housing units can be purchased locally.
• The temporary housing units used will be determined based on family composition and site capabilities and could range in size from RVs to manufactured housing units.
• Mitigation specialists have begun community education outreach efforts at Walmart stores in Page and Woodbury counties. Area residents can get tips and advice on making houses and businesses more disaster-resistant. Here are the times, dates and locations that FEMA specialists will be on hand:

Shenandoah: Walmart Supercenter, 705 S. Fremont St. Times: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays on the following dates: May 13-15 and May 20-22.

Sioux City: Walmart Supercenter, 3400 Singing Hills Blvd. Times: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, May 13-18.

Council Bluffs: Walmart Supercenter, 3201 Manawa Center Dr., Thursdays-Saturdays on the following dates: May 16-18 and May 23-25.

• Disaster survivors can get questions about their cases answered by calling FEMA's Helpline at 800-621-3362 (voice/711/video relay service). Multilingual operations are available.
  TTY: 800-462-7585. Lines are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CDT, seven days a week, until further notice.
  
  

For more information on disaster recovery:

Iowa assistance: www.floods2019.iowa.gov

FEMA assistance: www.fema.gov/disaster/4421

SBA assistance: www.SBA.gov/disaster or SBA's Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955.

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