Disaster recovery centers have been opening up across the state to help those hit by the storms and flooding that hit from June 1st through August 31st of this year. One of those new centers has opened in Oelwein in eastern Iowa. Fayette County Emergency Management Coordinator, Randy Frank, says the center provides another option for getting help.

Frank says if you’ve had flood damage, you can call FEMA, or go on-line to disasterassistance.gov, or they can come down to the office from nine A.M. until seven p.m. weekdays and nine a.m. until five p.m. on Saturdays. Frank says the Oelwein office and others can answer a lot of questions in person.

He says they have several different agencies on site, including FEMA, S.B.A., hazard mitigation experts and the I.R.S. Frank says the first step is to see if the damage is covered by insurance. Frank says you have to file for insurance first and if there is more damage, then you can talk to FEMA. Frank says the offices won’t be open forever, so you should check if you can get help as soon as you can.

Frank says there will be a closing date for the damages, and if you don’t get your claim in before the closing date, then you won’t be eligible for help. Disaster recovery centers are now located in Waterloo, Earlville, Dubuque, Cherokee, Colfax, Knoxville, Des Moines, Ames and Clarion. They operate on the same hours as the Oelwein center.

By Roger King, KOEL, Oelwein