Sarah Collie was sitting in the bathroom of the house she owned on 18th Street North the evening of Feb. 23 when a tornado touched down in North Columbus.
“I looked up and there it was,” Collie said.
Though Collie was OK, she said the storm “shook up” her house, with some roof damage and water damage to the interior. She moved in with her daughter Diane Moore. On Wednesday, less than a week after Federal Emergency Management Agency opened a Disaster Relief Center in East Columbus Gym, the two were there to see what kind of individual assistance Collie can receive.
Moore said the two of them are currently in the middle of litigation with Collie’s insurance company, who tried to “lowball” them for repairs. But she said even if the insurance company agrees to give them more money, she feels it won’t be enough to entirely fix her mother’s home.
“The estimates that we got for the house, the insurance isn’t going to cover it all the way,” Moore said. “… We’re just hoping this will be something that will … fill in the gaps.”
FEMA officials set up the DRC in the East Columbus Gym Friday and are still trying to get word out that residents like Collie can visit in person for one-on-one help registering for assistance. FEMA spokesperson George Butcher said about 30 people per day have visited the center so far.
Other organizations set up in the gym include the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration, the latter of which provides loans for businesses, nonprofits and sometimes, depending on the circumstances, individuals.
Additionally more than 12 teams of disaster assistance specialists from FEMA, MEMA and SBA have been going door-to-door in Columbus, as well as in neighborhoods in seven other counties affected by storms and flooding between Feb. 22 and March 29.
While residents can register for FEMA individual assistance online or on the phone, FEMA public information officer Rebecca Kelly said it’s often easier for residents to get the help they need if they’re talking face-to-face with a representative.
Kelly has filled out the registration forms and says some of the questions are unclear. For example, she said, one question asks if an individual is willing to relocate. That doesn’t necessarily mean move to another home or area, she said — it could just mean the individual is willing to stay at a hotel temporarily — but someone who is just filling it out online may not realize that.
“We want to have as many people over there because that facility can take individuals into a far deeper dive than you can get on the phone,” Kelly said. “Face-to-face is always going to be your best option. … (Disaster assistance specialists) might come up with some ideas for you that you’re not going to get over the phone and you’re certainly not going to get from a computer program.”
Individuals who register for assistance will receive a nine-digit identification number, and a FEMA housing inspector may contact them to inspect the home and document damage, according to a FEMA press release.
FEMA individual assistance is available for both homeowners and renters, and any funding approved for individuals is deposited directly into a bank account, rather than going through Mississippi Emergency Management Agency or a local nonprofit, Kelly said.
While the amounts an individual receives may vary depending on the damage, Kelly stressed FEMA assistance is not meant to cover all of an individual’s cost. It’s instead meant to “fill in the gaps” like what Collie and Moore are seeking
“We cannot make you whole,” she said. “But we can certainly give you a ray of hope and get you started on recovery.”
Another benefit to talking to individuals in person is identifying other people whose homes were so damaged after the storm that they had to relocate.
“We are really hoping through (media) that we’re going to be able to reach those people at the same time,” she said. “We’re trying to make sure that we ask people, ‘Do you know where your neighbor is? … Do you know how we can reach them?’ Sometimes the neighbor will give it to us and sometimes they’ll say, ‘I think Mary’s staying with her sister. Let me give her a call and let her know that you’re out here registering people and that you’ve opened up a center.'”
Individuals can also register for FEMA by calling 1-800-621-3362 from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. or online at DisasterAssistance.gov.
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