The Federal Emergency Management Agency has once again denied Illinois individual assistance for residents to rebuild after the 2019 historic flooding. FEMA denied Illinois’ appeal yesterday to help residents in the 22 counties effected by the flooding on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency’s contingency plan is to seek a disaster declaration from the U.S. Small Business Administration. If approved, an SBA disaster declaration would enable residents and business owners in the approved counties, and its contiguous counties, to apply for grants as well as low-interest, long-term loans. To date, the federal government has approved public assistance to repair roads and public-owned infrastructure to 28 counties in the state.
Under the guidelines of the public assistance program, local jurisdictions can be reimbursed for up to 75 percent of eligible costs. Based on the $61M in losses identified during the joint preliminary damage assessment, Illinois stands to receive an estimated $45.7M. Of that, FEMA has already obligated $1.3M to launch the public assistance program in Illinois.
Public assistance is available in the following counties in the listening area: Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Morgan, Pike, Schuyler, and Scott. For more information as an individual, visit IEMA’s website related to the flooding at illinois.gov/2019floods.