Texas Disaster Assistance Approaches Half a Billion

By the Numbers:
 
 
As of Thursday Oct. 31:
 
*    Nearly 715,000 registrations have been received from the 34 Texas
counties designated for FEMA Individual Assistance.
 
*    More than $326 million has been approved for disaster assistance
under the Individuals and Households Program. This includes more than $268 million in Housing Assistance and more than $58 million in Other Needs
Assistance.
 
*    The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved more than
$166 million in low-interest disaster loans. The SBA has issued more than
372,000 applications for home loans and more than 76,000 applications for
business loans. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SBA LOANS, read the Hurricane Ike Recovery Guide on this Web site, or call the Ike Helpline at 713-276-3955.
 
*    More than 359,000 FEMA home inspections have been completed.
 
*    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, local governments and approved
contractors have cleared more than 16.6 million cubic yards of debris from
disaster-affected counties.
 
*    The Army Corps has installed more than 27,000 temporary roofs
through Operation Blue Roof.
 
*    The Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) program has been
extended for eligible applicants until Jan. 15, 2009. TSA provides
short-term, transitional sheltering by directly paying hotels and motels for
evacuees lodging costs.
 
*    Texans seeking rental housing can search more than 32,000 Texas
rental properties through FEMA’s Housing Portal, available online at
https://asd.fema.gov/inter/hportal/home.htm.
 
*    FEMA has provided temporary manufactured housing for 339 applicants
for those living in communities where other housing options are not
feasible.
 
*    The 100th Disaster Recovery Center opened this week. More than
91,000 visits have been made to the centers to date. There are 31 FEMA/State
DRC’s open in affected counties, offering face-to-face assistance. A list of
current locations can be found at
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/dem/pages/dr1791_drc_list.htm.
 
*    More than 150 Community Relations field specialists – including
speakers of Spanish, Vietnamese, Thai, Laotian and Cambodian – are
canvassing areas hit by the hurricane, distributing information about FEMA
programs and reaching out to community groups.
 
*    More than $79 million has been obligated to Texas local governments
and private non-profits for Public Assistance and more than 1,000 requests
for Public Assistance projects have been submitted.