Several counties can now apply for public and individual disaster assistance from the federal government for costs associated with Hurricane Zeta.
The availability of the assistance comes after a conversation between Governor Kay Ivey and President Donald Trump led to an emergency disaster declaration being approved on Thursday.
Zeta made its way through Alabama on October 28-29, causing massive power outages and significant damage to property along its diagonal path northeast through the state.
“Within hours of our call, FEMA approved our request for public and individual assistance,” Ivey said of her conversation with the president on Thursday.
Alabama counties eligible for public assistance, per the governor’s office, are Autauga, Butler, Cherokee, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke, Clay, Coosa, Dallas, Elmore, Hale, Marengo, Mobile, Monroe, Perry, Randolph, Talladega, Washington and Wilcox.
Public assistance is a FEMA program that helps local governments and certain nonprofits bear the financial cost of debris removal, restoring public property and other expenses incurred in disaster response.
Counties in Alabama eligible for FEMA’s individual assistance program are “Clarke, Dallas, Marengo, Mobile, Perry, Washington, and Wilcox.”
Federal assistance for individuals in those counties can come in the form of “grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of Hurricane Zeta,” per a FEMA release.
“This will go a long way in providing the people impacted by Zeta the help they need,” Ivey concluded on Thursday.
Individuals in eligible counties can visit here to apply for assistance.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.
