Deadline Approaching for Federal Disaster Assistace in Stamford

Tuesday marked the beginning of the end for homeowners, renters, nonprofits and businesses of all sizes looking for disaster assistance or loans from FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Less than a week remains until the deadline to apply for this aid.

On Tuesday, Feb. 12, those groups will need to have already sent in their applications for processing in order to receive assistance. Beyond that date, business or home owners rebuilding after Superstorm Sandy will be out of luck as far as receiving government funds is concerned.

Residents of Fairfield, Middlesex, New Haven and New London counties, as well as the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribal Nations within New London County, are eligible to apply for assistance with Hurricane Sandy-related losses.

 The deadline has already been extended twice, once through January and then again to the current deadline of Feb. 12.

Survivors can register online anytime day or night at DisasterAssistance.gov, or with a smartphone or other Web-enabled device at m.fema.gov. Survivors can also register, check status of applications or receive other assistance by calling FEMA at 800-621-3362, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern, seven days a week. The TTY number is 800-462-7585. Multilingual operators are available.

More SBA disaster loan information may be obtained by calling SBA's Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (TTY users, call 800-877-8339) Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern, and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Apply online at SBA's secure website at disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/. For more information about the SBA disaster loan program, visit the SBA website at sba.gov/sandy.

So far, more than 12,000 Connecticut residents have registered for state and federal assistance and assistance approved is more than $41.5 million.  Of that total is nearly $30 million in low-interest disaster loans through the SBA.