State/FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers opening in Chesterfield, Dillon and Horry Counties

The State of South Carolina and FEMA are opening three Disaster Recovery Centers in the cities of Cheraw (Chesterfield County) Dillon (Dillon County) and Conway (Horry County) Tuesday, Oct. 2. Other centers will be opening soon in the areas affected by Hurricane Florence.

The centers offer in-person support to individuals and businesses in the counties included in the South Carolina major disaster declaration for Hurricane Florence and the subsequent floods.

Recovery specialists from the State of South Carolina, FEMA, and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will be at the centers to talk about assistance and help survivors who need help in finding recovery resources. The new centers are at the following locations:

SBA disaster assistance employees are committed to helping businesses and residents rebuild as quickly as possible. They are available to answer questions about SBA’s low-interest disaster loan program and help business owners and residents apply to the SBA.

The centers are accessible to people with disabilities. Centers have assistive technology equipment allowing disaster survivors to use amplified telephones, phones that display text, amplified listening devices for people with hearing loss, and magnifiers for people with vision loss. Recovery information is available in Braille. Video Remote Interpreting is available and in-person sign language is available by request. The centers also have accessible parking, ramps and restrooms.

Homeowners, renters and businesses can also check their eligibility for federal, state and voluntary agency disaster assistance available by:

• Visiting DisasterAssistance.gov;
• Calling 800-621-3362 (TTY: 800-462-7585); or
• Using the FEMA app, available for Apple and Android mobile devices at fema.gov/mobile-app.

The following information is helpful when registering:

• Address of the location where the damage occurred (pre-disaster address)
• Current mailing address
• Current telephone number
• Insurance information
• Total household annual income
• Routing and account number for checking or savings account (this allows direct transfer of funds into a bank account)
• A description of disaster-caused damage and losses

Disaster survivors can visit any center for assistance. Visit www.fema.gov/DRC to view other locations.

South Carolina homeowners, renters and business owners in Chesterfield, Dillon, Georgetown, Horry, Marion and Marlboro counties may apply for disaster assistance for uninsured and underinsured damage and losses resulting from Hurricane Florence.

For more information on Hurricane Florence and South Carolina recovery, visit the South Carolina Emergency Management Division website atscemd.org, on social media (@SCEMD on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram), or FEMA’s Hurricane Florence disaster webpage atwww.fema.gov/disaster/4394, or Facebook at www.facebook.com/FEMA, and the FEMA Region 4 Twitter account at twitter.com/FEMARegion4.

FEMA’s mission: Helping people before, during and after disasters.

Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800- 621-3362 (voice, 711/VRS – Video Relay Service) (TTY: 800-462-7585). Multilingual operators are available (press 2 for Spanish).

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is the federal government’s primary source of money for the long term rebuilding of disaster-damaged private property. SBA helps businesses of all sizes, private nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters fund repairs or rebuilding efforts and cover the cost of replacing lost or disaster-damaged personal property. These disaster loans cover losses not fully compensated by insurance or other recoveries and do not duplicate benefits of other agencies or organizations. For more information, applicants may contact SBA’s Disaster Assistance Customer Service Center by calling (800) 659-2955, emailingdisastercustomerservice@sba.gov or visiting SBA’s website at www.sba.gov/disaster. Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals may call (800) 877-8339.