Final SD FEMA recovery centers to close Friday

CANTON, S.D. (KELO) — Time is running out to visit the FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers in Lincoln and Union County.

After flooding hit southeastern KELOLAND in late June, FEMA set up disaster recovery centers in four South Dakota counties. As of Monday, FEMA spokeswoman Tiana Suber says 1,310 total people have registered for assistance, and FEMA has given out a little more than $8.2 million.

“People having damaged homes, people needing rental assistance, and people needing loans for their businesses or personal property damage. That’s been the bulk of the visits,” Suber said.

“A lot of people have bad damages, and some people lost everything that is in their basement like their boiler, their fridge and all their items that they usually have in their basement,” Lincoln County Disaster Recovery Center manager Norma Brown said.

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This is the last week that disaster recovery centers in Canton and North Sioux City will be open.

“Usually, when a center closes, that means that the visitor numbers have gone down, so we assume that people have gotten the help that they needed from us or from other resources,” Suber said.

Those centers will be open until Friday, and Suber says to take advantage of in-person assistance while you can.

“I definitely recommend one-on-one help. It relieves the stress of trying to figure it out on your own. We have people here willing to help right until the very end, right until 6:00 p.m.,” Suber said.

The Disaster Recovery Centers will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Thursday, but they will close at 6 p.m. Friday. If you are unable to visit a recovery center this week, you can still apply for assistance online by October 15 at DisasterAssistance.gov. You can also call the disaster assistance hotline at 1-800-621-3362.