DILLON, SC (WBTW) – FEMA opened three disaster recovery centers across the Pee Dee and the Grand Strand on Tuesday.
The recovery centers are located inside the Dillon Wellness Center in Dillon, Horry-Georgetown Tech in Conway, and Northeast Technical College in Cheraw. At each recovery center, specialists from FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration offer in-person counseling for flood victims. Citizens can apply for housing, tax, or other needs assistance, which can be anything from car damage to furniture damage.
“Housing assistance is for people who really need to move temporarily until their property is safe to go back,” explained FEMA Public Information Officer Rossyveth Rey. “And Other Needs assistance is assistance for people who have physical limitations and some other food or clothes, we can help them out with the voluntary agencies too.”
FEMA reps say there are several ways to get assistance, such as by going online or using the FEMA app. But they’re encouraging people to go to the recovery center first because of the benefits of face-to-face interaction.
“Everybody inside here has an answer for all of those questions so we can help them out with documents instead of going online. Sometimes there are limitations so here, we have an expert personnel to help them out,” said Rey. “We are here to support them. We are here with so many tools. We have every disaster programs for every situation to help them out.”
The disaster recovery centers are open weekdays from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. and on weekends from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. FEMA says more centers will open soon. For further assistance, you can also go to DisasterAssistance.gov or call FEMA at 1-800-621-3362. If you’re seeking loan assistance, you can click here to apply with the Small Business Administration.