From: Cynthia Oldfield of Brad Jones’ office
Cynthia.Oldfield@state.ma.us
Disaster Assistance Update
I. Individual Assistance
As of the close of business on April 28, 2010, 27,316 people have registered with FEMA for disaster assistance. The breakdown by county is:
Bristol 5444
Essex 2598
Middlesex 7071
Norfolk 5149
Plymouth 4285
Suffolk 1396
Worcester 1333
77% of those applying for assistance under the Individuals and Households Program (cash grants) have been deemed eligible for assistance. FEMA has approved assistance under this program totaling $40,882,001 and it already has disbursed $40,381,547.
The total amount of assistance approved under the Other Needs Assistance (ONA) program is $1,185,003. (Note: the Commonwealth must reimburse FEMA for 25% of the ONA assistance). This total is a subset of the Individuals and Households Program.
The Small Business Administration has issued 23814 applications for low interest home loans, and 2866 applications for low interest business loans. To date, 1364 completed loan applications have been received by the SBA, and 362 loans have been approved totaling $7,116,500.
FEMA inspectors have conducted 24,893 home/business inspections, and have scheduled/are scheduling another 813 inspections. The average turnaround time between application and inspection is 2.13 days.
Disaster Recovery Centers continue daily operations in Lakeville, Middleton (closing on 4/30), Quincy, Clinton, Fall River, Hyde Park (Boston), N. Attleboro, and Concord (opening on 5/3). So far, 2474 people have visited the DRC centers.
II. Public Assistance
FEMA has amended the President’s Major Disaster Declaration for Massachusetts to include Public Assistance for municipalities, state agencies and certain non-profit organizations. Under the Public Assistance program, FEMA will reimburse 75% of (i) eligible emergency protective measures (local, regional and state emergency response costs), and (ii) eligible costs to repair storm damaged public infrastructure, including roads, sidewalks, bridges, culverts, dams and buildings.
Each impacted municipality has been asked to attend an applicant briefing at which FEMA and MEMA personnel will provide instructions and guidance on the process for applying to FEMA for reimbursement under the Public Assistance program. These applicant briefings are being held throughout the impacted counties:
May 6 9:00 AM Tewksbury Senior Center, Tewksbury
May 6 1:00 PM Newton American Legion Post 440, Newton
May 7 9:30 AM Topsfield Fairground, Coolidge Hall, Topsfield
May 10 9:30 AM Four Points Sheraton, Norwood
May 10 1:00 PM Holiday Inn, Taunton
May 11 9:30 AM Plymouth Public Library, Plymouth
May 12 9:00 AM Worcester Polytech Institute, Worcester
May 12 1:00 PM Fitchburg State College, Fitchburg
Additionally, state agencies have been asked to attend an applicant briefing on May 18th at MEMA Headquarters in Framingham.
If you’re looking, you can see a lot of amazing birds and animals around the pond. What have you seen?
