RUSK COUNTY, Texas — A disaster recovery center for people to receive help on how to apply for FEMA assistance opened Wednesday in Rusk County.
People impacted by Hurricane Beryl and severe storms, tornadoes and flooding that happened between April 26 and June 5 can receive assistance concerning recovery benefits. The center is at the Rusk County Youth Expo, located at 3303 FM 13 West in Henderson.
Along with residential help, the U.S. Small Business Administration is assisting businesses, homeowners, renters and nonprofits with low-interest loans to get started on rebuilding or restructuring their losses from the storms.
"So on top of the amount that you are eligible, let's say $100,000, you can get up to 20% more to mitigate for possible disasters in the future," said Africa Rosas, U.S. SBA public affairs specialist. "So you can get up to $20,000 if you get $100,000 to build a basement if you didn't have one for a safe room. If you didn't have one, a new fence that is maybe higher or even a roof that is fireproof. So it doesn't need to be for the same type of disaster that you were impacted (by)."
The center's hours are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and the center will be closed on Sunday. To find a center nearby, visit fema.gov/drc.
Residents in Anderson, Austin, Bell, Calhoun, Collin, Cooke, Coryell, Dallas, Denton, Eastland, Ellis, Falls, Guadalupe, Hardin, Harris, Henderson, Hockley, Jasper, Jones, Kaufman, Lamar, Leon, Liberty, Montague, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Navarro, Newton, Panola, Polk, San Jacinto, Rusk, Sabine, Smith, Terrell, Trinity, Tyler, Van Zandt, Walker and Waller counties can visit any open center to meet with representatives of FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
No appointment is needed.
Texans can apply to FEMA online, by phone or using the FEMA App before going to a center for follow-up help. To apply, homeowners and renters can do the following:
- Go online to disasterassistance.gov
- Download the FEMA App for mobile devices
- Call the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362 between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Help is available in most languages. If you use a relay service, such as video relay (VRS), captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA your number for that service.
- Visit any Disaster Recovery Center.