State and federal officials are opening two disaster recovery centers in southwest Iowa today to help residents rebuild following the tornadoes, storms and floods that hit in early May. Bill Koontz, spokesman for the U.S. Small Business Administration, says the two temporary centers will be run by the SBA, FEMA and the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division.
Koontz says, "One will be located in Missouri Valley at the Missouri Valley High School in Room 326, that’s the one for Harrison County. The other one will be at the Jack and Jill Pre-school, adjacent to the Nishna Valley YMCA, located in Atlantic." He says it’ll be best for people to call the FEMA hotline and register prior to visiting the disaster center.
Koontz says the SBA offers low-interest disaster loans to homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes and private non-profit groups to repair or replace homes, businesses and personal property damaged by the severe weather and floods. Koontz says both of the centers will be open from 10 AM until 7:30 P.M., Monday through Saturday, until further notice. Last week, President Bush declared that people living in Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Ida, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Shelby, Taylor and Union counties may be eligible for federal disaster aid.
Koontz says homeowners, renters and business owners who were affected by the severe storms, flooding and tornadoes May 5th through the 7th are encouraged to apply for the assistance. Koontz says there will be customer service representatives on hand to help people fill out their disaster loan applications and all of the other paperwork. The FEMA hotline is 800-621-FEMA, and more information is available at the various agencies’ websites, including: " www.fema.gov " and www.sba.gov .