Friday, June 12, 2015
OKLAHOMA CITY - Governor Mary Fallin and the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management (OEM) announced today they have submitted five additional Oklahoma counties to a request for disaster assistance to aid individuals and business owners who sustained damage from recent flooding, tornadoes, severe storms and straight-line winds. The additional counties where individual assistance is being sought are Choctaw, Cotton, Jefferson, Okmulgee and Stephens.
If the request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is approved, the designation would make available federal assistance for housing repairs or temporary housing, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) low-interest loans for individuals and businesses to repair or replace damaged property, disaster unemployment assistance, and grants for serious needs and necessary disaster expenses not met by other programs.
To date, FEMA has approved public assistance for all 40 counties requested by the state. Thirteen counties have been approved by FEMA for individual assistance; requests for 17 additional counties have not been approved yet.
“I’m hopeful the federal government will approve these additional requests for individual assistance as well as our other applications awaiting action,” said Fallin. “Last month’s storms and flooding caused damage to many of our homes and businesses across our state.”
The governor continued to encourage individuals and business-owners whose property was damaged between May 5 and June 4 by storms and flooding to report those damages to FEMA by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) regardless of what county they are located in. She stressed that damage assessments are ongoing and the state expects to add more counties to its requests for both individual and public assistance.
A list of counties receiving aid is below.
Public Assistance
Note: Public assistance makes federal funding available to assist municipalities, counties and rural electric cooperatives with infrastructure repairs, debris removal and costs associated with responding to the storms. Governor Fallin has requested public assistance in 40 counties to date, all of which have now been approved by FEMA.
Approved Counties: Adair, Atoka, Beckham, Bryan, Caddo, Canadian, Carter, Choctaw, Cleveland, Coal, Comanche, Cotton, Creek, Garvin, Grady, Haskell, Hughes, Jackson, Johnston, Latimer, Le Flore, Logan, Love, Marshall, McClain, McCurtain, McIntosh, Murray, Muskogee, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Pittsburg, Pontotoc, Pottawatomie, Pushmataha, Seminole, Sequoyah, Stephens, Tillman and Washita
Individual Assistance
Note: Individual assistance makes available federal assistance for housing repairs or temporary housing, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) low-interest loans for individuals and businesses to repair or replace damaged property, disaster unemployment assistance, and grants for serious needs and necessary disaster expenses not met by other programs. Thirteen Oklahoma counties have been approved by FEMA for individual assistance. Governor Fallin has requested aid for 17 additional counties that have not yet been approved.
Approved Counties: Atoka, Bryan, Cleveland, Comanche, Grady, Johnston, Kiowa, Le Flore, McClain, McCurtain, Oklahoma, Pittsburg and Pottawatomie
Additional Requested Counties: Beckham, Caddo, Canadian, Carter, Choctaw, Cotton, Jefferson, Latimer, Marshall, McIntosh, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Pushmataha, Seminole, Stephens, Tulsa and Wagoner