County Council Chairman Jack Whelan said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will be on hand to accept applications from county residents and to provide information for home, business and economic injury disaster loans for damages incurred from the period of Aug. 26-30 from the hurricane.

The Disaster Recovery Center will open at 1 P.M. until 7 P.M. on Saturday at the Darby Township Municipal Building, 21 Bartram ave., in the Briarcliffe section of the township.  It will remain open from 10 A.M.-7 P.M. Monday-Friday for at least two weeks, Whelan said.  He said persons or businesses affected by Hurricane Irene may also apply for disaster loans electronically from the SBA website at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/rla/.

When applying for disaster assistance, it is necessary to have the following information:  social security number, including spouse; private insurance information, if available; address and zip code of the damaged property; directions to the damaged home or property; and daytime telephone number and current mailing address.

The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is Nov. 14.  The deadline to return economic injury applications is June 12, 2012.
Disaster loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace real estate which was damaged or destroyed;  homeowners and renters are eligible for up to $40,000 to repair or replace disaster damaged or destroyed personal property, according to the SBA.

Business and non-profit organizations may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and other business assets, the SBA said.  The SBA further announced the loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on an applicant’s financial condition.