Mississippi storm damage assistance tops $5.1 million

FORREST COUNTY, Miss. - More than 5.1 million in state and federal disaster assistance has been disbursed by FEMA to help those affected by the storms and flooding in Mississippi early March.

FEMA spokesman, Kurt Pickering said, "We have so far put over a little 5 million dollars on the street about close to 3,000 people now have applied."

4 million was used for housing assistance for repairing and rebuilding homes to provide more than 650 people a temporary place to live.

"It could be a payment to you to find another alternative place to rent while your house is prepared. It could be dollars paid to you to make repairs to the house, not to make it the way it was, but to make it livable" said Pickering.

The other 1 million was delivered to help cover the costs of replacing lost contents such as medical and dental disaster related expenses.

It was not only FEMA assisting locals, but SBA too.

SBA spokeswoman, Ray Harbour said, "I am happy to report that as of this morning the SBA has been able to approve more than a million dollars in loans in Mississippi related to this declaration."

FEMA and SBA are urging flood survivors to apply for help at the Forrest County Multiple Purpose building.

Pickering added, "If someone registers and does not get anything, it does not cost them any money to find that out. It is better that if they did not register and find out later they could have got something, that is the most thing we want to avoid."

Flood survivors can follow this process:

• Call , which is video relay service accessible.

• Survivors who are deaf, hard of hearing or who have difficulty speaking may call (TTY) .

• Helpline hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. local timeseven days a week until further notice.

• Or register online at DisasterAssistance.gov.