Published: November 13, 2009 08:47 pm      

Help still hard to come by

SBA offering loans to those with damage relating to August flooding

Questions remain for Southern Indiana residents that are still seeking help following storms that belted the area in early August.

Indiana applied for Federal Emergency Management Agency aid after more than 6 inches of rain fell on the region Aug. 4 and flooding problems worsened as the already soaked ground continued to receive heavy rains throughout the rest of the week.

Kentucky received help from the federal government, but Indiana was denied twice — the second time after Gov. Mitch Daniels appealed FEMA’s initial decision.

The lack of help has left some Southern Indiana residents seething.

“Louisville got money and we got nothing and I don’t think that’s right,” said Deborah Pope, who was helping her mother apply for a Small Business Administration loan Friday in Clarksville. “I’m just irate. All the Clark County residents are upset that they didn’t get FEMA money.

“They help Kentucky, why can’t they help Indiana?” she asked.

Pope’s question is one that was not readily answered, not even by the people finally providing some help to Hoosiers.

“I think they’re frustrated ... because nobody really understands why Kentucky got the declaration and Indiana didn’t,” said Pat Payne, disaster relief specialist with the U.S. Small Business Administration. “And I don’t know either; it’s the same storm.”

Some residents can now take solace they finally have a source for help through low-interest SBA loans, which people could begin applying for Friday. And according to Payne, there was no shortage of people seeking help.

“It has been steady all day long,” she said.

The stream of people are seeking money that is a low-interest disaster loan designed to help homeowners, renters, businesses and nonprofit organizations to fund repair or rebuilding.

There are several types of loans available, including: home disaster loans, which cover homeowners or renters to repair or replace disaster-damaged real estate or personal property losses; business physical disaster loans for businesses to repair or replace disaster-damaged property; and economic injury disaster loans, which are working-capital loans to help small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and most private, nonprofit organizations.

The loan amounts are limited to $200,000 for the repair of the applicant’s home and $40,000 to repair or replace personal property. The law limits business loans to $2,000,000 and economic injury loans are limited to $2 million.

However, there are some requirements in order to receive the loans.

Only uninsured or otherwise uncompensated disaster losses are eligible and loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA, which are based on each applicant’s financial condition, according to the SBA fact sheet.

The financial provision was bad news for Pope’s mother, Emylie Bowen.

Bowen, 79, is retired, on a fixed income and was not able to meet the financial requirements to apply for SBA assistance.

The financial requirements are consistent with federal poverty guidelines to ensure the resident will be able to repay the loan.

Bowen sustained an estimated $10,000 worth of damage to her Clarksville home as between 3 1/2 feet to 4 feet of water poured into her basement.

“She couldn’t get any help with her insurance company, so then we applied for FEMA, then that was denied,” Pope said. “So, then they told us to come out here and apply for a Small Business [Administration Loan].”

While the SBA loan was denied, there is still aid possible for Bowen.

“I’m not exactly sure who is doing that, but we’ve just been told that another agency will be contacting the people that are ineligible for the loan,” Payne said. “They will take each one of their cases individually and see if they can give them [help]. Evidently, if it is not a loan, it would be a grant of some sort.”

Bowen is now faced with waiting for another agency to lend her a hand and is taking the wait somewhat in stride.

“You can’t prevent mother nature,” she said.

Her daughter is a little more upset with the lack of prompt aid given to Hoosiers.

“It just boils down to the whole county should have gotten some help,” Pope said. “I mean, she’s worked all her life and I’ve worked all my life and you don’t ask for nothing, but when it comes to a time of disaster, there ought to be something.”



SO YOU KNOW

• The Clark County SBA outreach location is at Clarksville Town Hall, 2000 Broadway, in the second-floor conference room. The Floyd county location is at the emergency management building, 1613 E. Spring St., Suite No. 4, New Albany. The locations will remain open until 4:30 p.m. each weekday through Thursday; Saturday hours are 9 a.m. to noon.

Individuals and businesses may obtain information and loan applications by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 — 800-877-8339 for the hearing impaired — Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., or by sending an e-mail to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.

Business loan applications also can be downloaded from the SBA Web site atwww.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance

Victims may apply for disaster loans at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/

The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is Jan 5. The deadline to return economic injury applications is Aug. 6.

— Associated Press