Even as New Hampshire skies threaten more heavy rains, hundreds of people are flocking to newly-opened regional FEMA offices, looking for help recovering from the floods of two weeks ago. NHPR Correspondent Debra Daigle spent some time at the Manchester FEMA office and files this report.
Begin with nat sound of Merrimack resident Kevin Simino asking a FEMA rep a question :05
Kevin Simino lives in one of the area's hardest hit by recent flooding in the state: Horse Shoe Pond in Merrimack.
At one point, their Island Street home had three feet of water on the first floor.
He and his wife had to rush to get whatever belongings they could up to the second floor.
"The only thing that we were able to save were some small furnishings that we were able to bring up to the second floor...but it came up so fast and furious that there just wasn't time." :08
Simino spent nearly three hours today at the just-opened regional FEMA office at Southern NH Services in Manchester
He was applying for grants, loans, anything to help him recover nearly 20-thousand-dollars' in damages.
"That incurred all major appliances and home furnishings, etc. I had two heating systems, one for the main house and one for an addition, while the whole house was under three feet of water...so I lost both of those." :12
FEMA's Kim Pease says these disaster recovery centers are places for people to gather information from the federal agency as well as the State of NH and other local entities.
"FEMA brings to the table some 26 different agencies that offer all kinds of assistance. The state is represented here; they have programs and things that can help people as well as FEMA." :16
(bring in nat sound here of general activity at the center; fade out and under next voice track)
The center is teaming with dozens of FEMA and other state & local agents.
They'll be working here from 8AM to 8PM seven days a week.
Debbie Gosselin is with Southern NH Services:
"What we've done, as a community action agency, with FEMA, with the SBA, at the request of the governor, is to try to bundle services for individuals. Therefore they'll go through their FEMA and their loan applications, etc...and if there are any gaps in service, we are going to take applications and screen folks to try to help them with those gaps, and work with whole families for the whole picture."
But the application process is complex and time consuming.
For example, FEMA's Kim Pease says a property owner looking for a federal help to recoup personal loss*may* be directed toward filling out an application for a Small Business Administration loan.
"They say 'I don't need an SBA loan, I don't have a small business.' But they need to fill out the application because it is the gateway to additional grants that they may get that they don't have to pay back."
Kevin Simino says he'll take financial help any way he can get it.
"Something's better than nothing...we have no flood insurance...anything anyone is going to offer us is very beneficial."
People can apply for disaster relief in three different ways: via phone at 1-800-621-3362; e-mail, simply at FEMA.gov.
Or by going in person to any of the four regional disaster recovery centers in the state, located in Manchester……
FEMA says they will remain open as long as there's a need.
For NHPR News, I'm Debra Daigle, in Manchester
