Severe Storm and Flooding April 26th - May 28th, 2024
For Private Nonprofit Organizations
New Release 07/16/2024 Disaster Assistance Available to Private Nonprofit Organizations
FEMA Assistance Information for Individuals
FEMA disaster assistance may provide funds for basic home repairs, rental of temporary housing and other uninsured expenses resulting from the storms and flooding that began April 26 in Texas. FEMA assistance is not a replacement for insurance.
DEADLINE TO APPLY FOR ASSISTANCE IS AUGUST 15th, 2024
Housing Assistance
Home Repair or Replacement: Money to help you repair or replace your home damaged by the disaster. For example, this may include addressing mold caused by the disaster, or money for hazard mitigation measures. Mitigation measures are actions you can take when making repairs that will help reduce the amount of damage to your home in future disasters. The money can also help with pre-existing damage to parts of your home where the disaster caused further damage.
Accessibility Needs: Money to help survivors with a disability with specific repairs to make sure their home is accessible, such as an exterior ramp, grab bars, and paved path to the home entrance. Repairs can be made when these items are damaged. Improvements can be made when those features were not present prior to the disaster, and they are needed due to a pre-existing disability, or a disability caused by the disaster.
Privately-owned Roads, Bridges, Docks: Money for survivors whose only access to their home has been damaged by the disaster.
Rental Assistance: Money you can use to rent housing if you are displaced from your home because of the disaster.
Sheltering Assistance
Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA): FEMA pays the cost of room, taxes and non-refundable pet fees directly to participating hotels and motels. Pet fees will only be paid up to the approved limit of assistance for individual rooms. TSA may be available if you cannot return to your disaster-damaged home and your housing needs cannot be met by insurance, shelters or rental assistance provided by FEMA or another agency.
Other Needs Assistance
Serious Needs: Money to help you pay for lifesaving and life-sustaining items, including water, food, first aid, prescriptions, infant formula, breastfeeding supplies, diapers, consumable medical supplies, durable medical equipment, personal hygiene items and fuel for transportation.
Displacement: Money to help with immediate housing needs if you cannot return to your home because of the disaster. The money can be used to stay in a hotel, with family and friends or for other options while you look for temporary housing.
Personal Property: Money to help you repair or replace appliances, room furnishings, a personal or family computer damaged by the disaster, books, uniforms, tools, additional computers and other items required for school or work, including self-employment.
Medical/Dental: Money to help you pay for medical expenses because the disaster caused an injury or illness. This money can also be used to help replace medical/dental equipment, breastfeeding equipment, or prescribed medicine damaged or lost because of the disaster.
Funeral: Money to help you pay for funeral or reburial expenses caused by the disaster.
Child Care: Money to help you pay for increased or new child care expenses caused by the disaster.
Assistance for Miscellaneous Items: Money to help you pay for specific items, (such as a generator, dehumidifier, chainsaw, etc.) that you purchased or rented after the disaster to assist with recovery. The miscellaneous items may be used for gaining access to your property or for cleaning efforts caused by the disaster.
Transportation: Money to help you repair or replace a vehicle damaged by the disaster when you don’t have another vehicle you can use.
Moving and Storage Expenses: Money to help you move and store personal property from your home to prevent additional damage, usually while you are making repairs to your home or moving to a new place due to the disaster.
Group Flood Insurance Policy: If your home is in a Special Flood Hazard Area and you have flood damage caused by the disaster, FEMA may purchase a Group Flood Insurance Policy on your behalf that gives you three years of coverage.
Clean and Sanitize: Money to help you pay for minor damage caused by the disaster to prevent additional loss and potential health or safety concerns. This money is only available in certain disasters if you had property damage but were not eligible for Home Repair or Replacement Assistance because FEMA determined you could still live safely in your home.
Apply to FEMA
Kaufman county can apply for assistance by visiting DisasterAssistance.gov (also in Spanish), by calling 800-621-3362, visiting a Disaster Recovery Center or using the FEMA mobile app.
For more information, visit fema.gov/disaster/4781. Follow FEMA Region 6 on social media at x.com/FEMARegion6 and at facebook.com/FEMARegion6/
Be Alert to Fraud
FEMA crews are working in communities to help people apply for disaster assistance. They carry photo identification and never ask for, or accept, money. Thieves may try to apply for FEMA assistance using names, addresses and Social Security numbers they have stolen from disaster survivors.
Citizenship and FEMA Eligibility
FEMA is committed to helping all eligible Texas households recover from the storms and flooding that began April 26, including U.S. citizens, non-U.S. citizen nationals or qualified non-citizens.
You or a member of your household must be U.S. citizen, non-U.S. citizen national or qualified non-citizen to apply. Families with diverse immigration status, including adults who are undocumented, can apply as long as at least one family member is a citizen, non-U.S. citizen national or qualified non-citizen. For instance, if you are undocumented and have a child under 18 who is a U.S. citizen and lived in the household during the time of the disaster, you can apply for FEMA assistance.
A qualified non-citizen includes:
- Legal permanent resident (“green card” holder)
- An asylee, refugee, or a non-citizen whose deportation is being withheld
- Non-citizen paroled into the U.S. for at least one year
- Non-citizen granted conditional entry (per law in effect prior to April 1, 1980)
- Cuban/Haitian entrant
- Certain non-citizens subjected to extreme cruelty or who have been a victim of a severe form of human trafficking, including people with a “T” or “U” visa.
For adults who apply on behalf of a minor child, the child must have a Social Security number and live with the parent or guardian who applies. The parent or guardian will not have to provide any information on their own immigration status or sign any documents regarding their status.
The minor child must be under age 18 as of the first day of the disaster incident period, April 26, 2024.
Personal Property and FEMA Assistance
Types of Assistance
- Appliances: Includes standard household appliances, such as a refrigerator, washing machine, etc.
- Clothing: Essential clothing needed due to loss, damage or contamination.
- Home Furnishings: Basic furnishings found in a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and living room.
- Tools Required for Work and School: Tools and equipment required for your job and items required for education purposes. This assistance also applies to self-employed individuals.
- Computing Devices: This includes one personal or family computer. You may be eligible for funds for additional computers required for work or school that were damaged by the disaster.
- Accessible Items: FEMA provides assistance for damaged personal property required for eligible applicants with disabilities.
Eligibility Conditions
- Items must have been owned prior to the Texas storms that began April 26 and been damaged by the storms.
- Items were owned and being used by occupants of the household.
- FEMA does not provide assistance for furnishings and/or appliances provided by a landlord.
- Items used by guests and relatives who were not members of the pre-disaster household are not eligible for assistance.
- FEMA may not repair or replace a storm-damaged item if you own a similar item that works.