(Spirit Lake)– Dickinson County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Ehret says FEMA representatives are already on the ground in Dickinson county, just a day after it was announced the county is now eligible for individual disaster assistance…
“They came in this morning, a small team, and they’re going to start going out to look at some of the hardest hit areas, some of the areas where homes had water up into the first floor and so forth. But they are going to, once they get more staff in the area, we’re going to see them start going door-to-door throughout the county to talk to folks to see if they have damages, to see if they are in need of any assistance or anything like that through FEMA.”
Ehret encourages anyone who believes they may be eligible for individual assistance to get signed up…
“They have a website, it is disasterassistance.gov. They can go online, go to that website, you make an account, and then you can go in and fill out the information and then you will get put into the system. I know some people have already done that in hopes that we would get this, so if you’ve already done that you’re good. There’s also a telephone number you can call if you don’t access to a computer or the internet. That number is 1-800-621-3362.”
Ehret says the FEMA representatives are clearly identifiable…
“When these folks are coming around they will be identified. They will be wearing a blue FEMA vest and they will also have a federal I.D. card with them. So be sure to look for those two things: blue FEMA fest and an I.D. card. If someone comes to your door claiming to be FEMA and they don’t have one of those things, if they can’t produce an I.D. card or if it seems fishy, just call or Communications Center, 336-2525, and report it.”
While Dickinson county was approved for public assistance through FEMA shortly after the disaster in June, Ehret says there were a couple of factors that made it take longer for Dickinson county to become eligible for the individual FEMA assistance…
“It took a little longer for us. The damages weren’t as obvious as say Spencer or Rock Valley, so we had to do some leg work on our end. This is where, you know, a few weeks ago we encouraged people to go online and report their damages and the people that did that, that’s now paid off, that we’ve got this declaration for the individual assistance. So if anyone wondered why we kept harping on that, this is why. We needed to get that damage entered and logged so that we could show them that we had these issues and that we need this assistance.”
Ehret says it’s important to point out that it will take time for the representatives to get around to all of those affected. He also says it’s important to note that FEMA assistance is just that: assistance. He says there are limits on the amount of aid available and that it’s not intended to make repairs or replacements whole.
