FEMA returning to Brownsville

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is urging renters and homeowners to take advantage of mobile Disaster Recovery Centers opening across the Rio Grande Valley through September.

FEMA and the Texas Division of Emergency Management are staffing the centers at the eight counties in South Texas declared disaster areas by President Barack Obama in the wake of Hurricane Alex and subsequent flooding.

Through the presidential disaster declaration, Cameron, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Maverick, Starr, Webb, Willacy and Zapata counties have been authorized to received federal funding to provide residents and business owners assistance, including grants for temporary housing and home repairs and low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses.

At the FEMA locations, home and business owners can receive information on whether they are eligible for various types of state and federal aid. Representatives of the Small Business Administration will be there with information about low-interest business loans, and Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid attorneys will offer free legal services.

Homeowners can apply for up to $200,000 in aid, renters up to $40,000 and business owners as high as $2 million.

So far, 1,529 people have registered for more than $3.2 million in FEMA assistance throughout the eight disaster areas and surrounding counties. Of those, 1,067 registration inspections have been completed, according to the federal disaster agency.

About 21 people in Cameron County have registered per day with the agency, which has a total of 169 registrations, according to the agency.

In Cameron County, the Port Isabel Center, which opened at the beginning of this week, will close at 7 p.m. today. The mobile center will then move to Harlingen, where it will open Saturday morning. It will come to Brownsville Sept. 1-3.

Residents should register with the federal disaster agency before visiting the centers by calling 1-800-621-3362 (FEMA) or TTY 1-800-462-7585.

"We are doing very good," FEMA spokesman David Gonzalez said. "But people who have suffered damage need to call the 1-800 number."

For more information:

Brownsville:
Park Centro Cultural Center
2100 Gregory Ave.
Hours 9-7 on Sept. 1-3

Harlingen Annex
3302 Wilson Road
Harlingen
Saturday-Monday 9-7pm