Governor Greg Abbott announced on Tuesday that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) approved his request for a disaster declaration for Northeast Texas communities impacted by severe weather, including tornadoes, earlier this month. The declaration includes the following Texas counties: Bowie, Camp, Cass, Marion, Morris, Red River, Titus, and Upshur.
“The State of Texas continues to work to provide Northeast Texans with the necessary resources to recover from recent tornadoes and severe weather,” said Governor Abbott. “With this approval, impacted Texans will be able to qualify for low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration so they can begin to rebuild their homes and businesses that sustained storm damage. I thank the Texas Division of Emergency Management for working with our federal partners to ensure Texans have the resources and assistance to recover from these storms.”
The SBA granted access to its Home Disaster Loans, Business Physical Disaster Loans, and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, which will provide low-interest loans to qualifying homeowners, renters, and businesses in affected communities following the severe storms and tornadoes that occurred earlier this month.
Applicants may apply online, receive additional disaster assistance information, and download applications at sba.gov/disaster. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services. Completed applications should be mailed to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.
SBA representatives will open a Disaster Loan Outreach Center to explain the application process, assist with completing applications, and address questions about the disaster loan programs. Starting tomorrow at 11 a.m., a Disaster Loan Outreach Center will be located at the Morris County Collaborative at 200 Jefferson Street in Daingerfield, TX 75638, which will be open weekdays from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Governor Abbott continues to take action to provide all available resources to help support local communities impacted by severe weather, including:
• Requesting a disaster declaration from the SBA for affected communities.
• Requesting local, state, and federal partners joint preliminary damage assessment of homes and businesses in Northeast Texas communities.
• Activating state emergency response resources ahead of severe weather and flash flood threats.
Article source and photo credit: Office of the Governor Greg Abbott
