A news report from Sarah Ostman, AustinTalks.org
For Austin residents whose homes flooded in the July 23 storm, there’s good news and bad news.
The good news is, President Barack Obama has declared Cook County a federal disaster area, opening the floodgates, so to speak, for clean-up dollars from Washington, D.C.
The bad news is, getting those dollars can be a confusing process, one wrought with red tape and dashed hopes. Luckily, though, there are several ways to get help through the process.
These were the lessons learned at a community meeting Tuesday night at Austin’s Hope Community Church, where more than 100 residents flocked for advice about their moldy carpeting and water-logged walls.
Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)and Small Business Administration (SBA) told the crowd how to go about filing for the federal reimbursement money, which is available since Obama declared the disaster zone on Aug. 19.
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Check out ChicagoTalks’ earlier coverage of flooding on Chicago’s West Side: West Side Residents ‘Hopeful’ That Help is on the Way After Recent Storms.