Iowans in the 32 counties can now file for disaster unemployment benefits. Iowa Workforce Development spokesperson, Kerry Koonce, says the presidential disaster declaration opened the way for the benefits.

Koonce says it allows people who have lost their job due to the disaster — if the business you work at was flooded out for example — or if you are a farmer and you lost your crops to flooding. Koonce says this also includes people who own their own business. She says it’s one of the few times where the self-employed will be eligible for unemployment assistance.

Koonce says you’ll have to prove you were put out of work by the disaster. Koonce says farmers will have to bring in the most recent income tax forms and business records, self employed business owners will have to prove their business has been shut down. Employees will be verified through the normal process.

Koonce says you need to file a claim for the disaster unemployment by September 17th and you can do so by contacting one of the 55 unemployment offices across the state, or you could go on-line. Koonce says these are federal benefits, so they will not impact the state unemployment fund.

People in the following county are eligible: Black Hawk, Cherokee, Clayton, Decatur, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Franklin, Hamilton, Howard, Humboldt, Ida, Jackson, Jasper, Jones, Kossuth, Lee, Lucas, Lyon, Mahaska, Marion, O’Brien, Osceola, Polk, Ringgold, Sioux, Story, Taylor, Union, Warren, Webster, and Wright.