Deadline for FEMA aid approaches

Officials are urging Rio Grande Valley residents affected by Hurricane Dolly to apply for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency before the Sept. 30 deadline.

"We are pushing to make sure that no one gets left out," said Charles Powell, a public information officer for FEMA. "Home repairs can be extremely costly, and we want to assist those who have suffered damages."

The deadline for low-interest loans from the Small Business Administration is also Sept. 30.

Nearly $40 million in aid has been approved to assist affected residents of Cameron, Hidalgo, and Willacy counties since the July 22 hurricane, according to the agency.

According to FEMA, 36,485 individuals have applied for disaster assistance since July 24's presidential disaster declaration.

The Valley's disaster recovery centers have been closed, so those seeking to apply for aid before the deadline must either call the agency's registration line at 1-800-621-FEMA or visit www.fema.gov.

"The phone line is pretty busy since Ike," Powell said, referring to storm that made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, ravaging the Houston and Galveston area on Sept. 13. "I would encourage people to be very persistent. I wouldn't even call it patient - be persistent."