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Four Flood Recovery Centers Open in Harris County

The centers are located across the county in some of the areas hardest hit by the floods, including Greenspoint and north and northwest Harris County.

APTOPIX Severe Weather
Trent Black sits on the roof of the home of Jamie Holden Sr., surrounded by floodwaters from the Sabine River, Wednesday, March 16, 2016, in Deweyville, Texas.
AP/Brett Coomer
(TNS) - Four disaster recovery centers in Harris County opened their doors Monday to help victims of last month's devastating floods navigate the often-complicated process of accessing federal aid.

The centers are located across the county in some of the areas hardest hit by the floods, including Greenspoint and north and northwest Harris County. They will be complemented by teams of federal officials canvassing neighborhoods on foot.

Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will help people register flood damage, apply for aid, and answer recovery-related questions. Aid is available not only for house repairs but also for temporary housing, medication, funeral expenses and transportation, among other needs.

City and county officials at the centers also can help with permitting questions, legal aid and referrals to social services.

Already, residents have submitted more than 10,000 applications for aid and, as of Monday, FEMA had approved almost $13 million in grants to flood victims in four Texas counties, including Harris, that received a presidential disaster declaration last week.

The county estimates that floods caused more than $56 million in damage to thousands of homes. At least eight people died in the Houston region during the floods and storms.

Local officials expected the number of applications and aid would continue to rise.

"There are still many, many more people who need assistance," said Precinct 1 Commissioner Gene Locke, at the opening of a center at a Greenspoint office building Monday.

By the time the Greenspoint center opened its doors, more than a dozen people had lined up in the office building's halls. They included Alexis Bickham, who lived on the second floor of an apartment building at Arbor Courts, where residents were inundated by floodwaters.

"I'm trying to see what's going on with my FEMA case," Bickham said.

Bickham, 30, is now in a hotel with dozens of others displaced by the floods, and she will have to move out by May 6. She said she needed housing assistance, but a FEMA inspector had previously determined that her apartment was habitable. Bickham said the mildew covering her kitchen made it unlivable.

She said she was directed Monday to write a letter to FEMA explaining why she thought she couldn't live in her apartment, to see if she could qualify for aid.

Others who suffered from the mid-April deluge, which dropped almost 18 inches of rain in some parts of the county, came Monday with a multitude of concerns. For neighbors Destiny Groce and Elisha Washington, the floods came into their apartment just a block from the recovery center, damaging cars and destroying parts of their home.

They had registered for FEMA aid, and inspectors had noted the damage, but so far there had been no word on whether they would get any money, just a notice that their application was "pending."

Washington was most concerned about help for her baby. A few days ago, she had received water, and some diapers from a church, but food was still scarce.

"That's what we're hoping," the 23-year-old Groce said, "to get a word on something like that."

Federal and local officials stressed Monday that residents should register for aid even if they think they don't qualify. People can register at the recovery centers, on disasterassistance.gov or by calling 800-621-3362.

Officials said there were multiple streams of funding, and not qualifying for a FEMA grant, for example, did not rule someone out from receiving a loan from the Small Business Administration, which provides low-cost loans for not only businesses but also homeowners. SBA spokesman Susheel Kumar said Monday that the SBA had given out a $121,000 loan to a homeowner after the April floods.

FEMA individual assistance liaison Paul Timmons said that even if people are initially sent notices that they do not qualify for aid, they should appeal. He said that in many cases, denials are based on incomplete information in the application, which can be fixed.

Officials said the amount of money that someone receives, where it comes from and how quickly it can be received would be determined on a case-by-case basis.

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©2016 the Houston Chronicle

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