Governor Rick Scott announced that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved his November 9 request for a Disaster Declaration, in response to the Severe Storms and Flooding event of October 28 - 31 in Broward County. Affected residents and businesses can apply for low-interest disaster loans from the SBA. The declaration covers Broward County and the neighboring counties of Collier, Hendry, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach.
"I want to thank Administrator Mills, Director Skaggs and our federal partners at the SBA for their swift response to this event and for providing essential disaster assistance," said Governor Scott. "These low-interest loans are an invaluable resource that will assist our residents in recovering from the detrimental storms and flooding of late October."
Under this declaration, qualified residents may be eligible for home and/or business disaster loans to repair or replace disaster-damaged real estate or property. Loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible for loans up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property.
The SBA may increase a loan up to 20 percent of the total amount of disaster damage to real estate and/or leasehold improvements, as verified by SBA, to make improvements that lessen the risk of property damage by future disasters of the same kind.
For small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small aquaculture businesses and most private nonprofit organizations of all sizes, the SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster. EIDL assistance is available regardless of whether the business suffered any physical property damage.
Interest rates are as low as 2.063 percent for homeowners and renters, 3 percent for non-profit organizations and 4 percent for businesses with terms up to 30 years. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant's financial condition.
Individuals and businesses may obtain information on loan applications by calling the SBA's Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) or by sending an e-mail to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov. Loan applications can also be downloaded from www.sba.gov.
Completed applications should be mailed to:
U.S. Small Business Administration
Processing and Disbursement Center
14925 Kingsport Road
Fort Worth, TX 76155
Those affected by the disaster may also apply for disaster loans electronically from SBA's website at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/.
DEADLINES: The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is January 13, 2012. The deadline to return economic injury applications is August 14, 2012.
For more information on the Florida Division of Emergency Management, please visit www.FloridaDisaster.org.
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