About 250 people sign up for FEMA assistance in Whitley County

So far about 250 Whitley County residents, who were affected by July 31 flash flooding, have applied for federal disaster assistance.

“There has been some pretty substantial assistance awarded. It is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars awarded to Whitley County citizens. We are glad to be able to get that assistance,” Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White Jr. said Friday.

Last week the county had meetings with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) about possibly some future assistance, he noted.

“We have applications for public assistance, which would be making permanent fixes to roadways affected by the storm,” White added.

White said that Whitley County officials are still tabulating the damage from the storm.

“For us to meet the threshold, it had to be over $150,000. I think that is going to be a drop in bucket by the time you figure the road damage and the home damage what the actual total will end up being,” White said.

In order to apply for assistance, homeowners and renters in Breathitt, Clay, Floyd, Knott, Leslie, Letcher, Magoffin, Martin, Owsley, Perry, Pike and ​Whitley​ counties can go online to disasterassistance.gov, call 800-621-3362 or use the FEMA mobile app. If you use a relay service, such as video relay (VRS), captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA the number for that service.

When applying for assistance, it’s important to have some critical information in hand:

• A current phone number where you can be contacted;
• Your address at the time of the disaster and the address where you are now staying;
• Your Social Security number;
• A general list of damage and losses;
• Banking information if you choose direct deposit; and
• If insured, the policy number or the agent and/or the company name.

For an accessible video on how to apply for assistance go to FEMA Accessible: How to Register with Disaster Survivor Assistance – YouTube.

Flood survivors who apply for FEMA assistance may be referred to the SBA. It is important to submit an SBA application so you can be considered for additional FEMA grants.