Today, we got two inches of rain between 1:30 and 3:20. That’s according to the closest official gage at US59 and the West Fork. See the graph below. Ben’s Branch came out of its banks almost immediately and nearly flooded St. Martha’s Catholic School and Kids in Action again.
Today’s Rainfall in 10-minute Increments
The closest gage at the West Fork and US59 registered a total of 2.08 inches for the event.In ten-minute increments, it looked like this.Source: HarrisCountyFWS.org.
The Result
St. Martha’s School after two inches of rain in a two hour period. This is what the parking lot of the school looked like 1.5 hours after the rain ended. The floodwaters came from Ben’s Branch which was at a virtual standstill in this area. Water under the Woodland Hills Bridge just south of Northpark Drive barely moved.
St. Martha’s has not yet finished repairs from Imelda. No floodwater actually got in the school today, but it came dangerously close for a rain that was not unusual for this area. The school is at least two feet above the hundred year flood plain and this was a one-year rain at best (see table below).
Across the creek, Heather Jensen at Kids In Action wrote, “We’re currently rebuilding Kids In Action for the second time since May. Can’t stomach a third.” Many people would agree with that!
Expect a Rainfall This Intense at Least Annually
The latest NOAA Atlas-14 rainfall chart for this area shows that we can expect a two-inch rain in two hours at least once a year. If you measure the 10-minute peak, it also works out to a one-year event. Which we’ve had several of this year.
I have lived in Kingwood for 35 years and used to own commercial property near St. Martha’s for twenty years. I have never seen Ben’s Branch do this on a rain like we had today.
During those 35 years, not much has changed along the creek. With few exceptions, the bridges, homes and businesses along this portion of Ben’s Branch have been there the entire time.
Photo taken 9/25/2019, looking east. North is left; south is right. The area labeled Woodridge Village in the middle of the shot drains into Ben’s Branch which is out of frame to the right (south).
The storm drains, which also empty Sherwood, in turn empty into Ben’s Branch. See image below.
Looking north along Woodland Hills Drive toward Kingwood Park High School, Sherwood Trails and Woodridge Village. The City says this drain helps empty Woodridge Village.
The shot above is looking north, parallel to Woodland Hills Drive. Below, you can see the reverse angle, looking south. The shot was taken from the second floor of Kids in Action on the north side of the creek. Notice how water from that drain is shooting across the creek, creating more turbulence than the flood itself.
Photo by Heather Jensen of Kids In Action just north of St. Martha’s.
Below St. Martha’s, A Different World
Compare the width of the Ben’s Branch channel in the photos above to the width in the photos below, where the stream goes through a natural area.
Upstream from St. Martha’s, Ben’s Branch is a wide channel. Downstream, shown here, it turns into a narrow, twisting, turning creek. Photo from 9/25/2019, courtesy of St. Martha’s.
Photo from 9/25/2019. Courtesy of St. Martha’s, showing trees encroaching on Ben’s Branch.
In the foreground, you can clearly see evidence of erosion from Imelda. This shot was taken on 9/25/2019. Note the fallen tree in the background. Such blockages create “beaver dams” during heavy rains when other debris catches on them. Photo courtesy of St. Martha’s.
Such obstructions, turns, tangles and narrow beds slow the velocity of the water, causing it to back up. No doubt, these factors play a role in the repetitive flooding, as does upstream development.
Political and Legal Obstructions Complicate Matters
Maintenance responsibilities for this portion of Ben’s Branch are in flux. That may be the kindest way to say it. Nothing has really changed since Harvey.
However, from reading the deed, you can see that Friendswood still exercises deed restrictions on the property, especially those applying to drainage. When it comes to saying yea or nay to major changes that affect the character of the greenbelt on either side of Ben’s Branch, Friendswood appears to be in control to this day.
Major Friendswood deed restrictions include:
Friendswood reserves for itself multiple easements for drainage. (sec. 3)
BBTA must keep the area “healthful” (sec. 8)
BBTA may not remove any trees except those that are dead or dying (sec. 8)
BBTA may not transfer the land (with a few exceptions that don’t apply to this discussion) (sec. 9)
The deed restrictions do not have an expiration date like those for many HOAs.
What Next for Ben’s Branch
Last year, the City reportedly agreed with Harris County Flood Control to assume responsibility for all underground drainage in the county would assume responsibility for all above ground drainage. Since then, the two have been trying to sort out responsibilities.
Harris County Flood Control has sought an easement at least since January from Friendswood and Bear Branch Trail Association. Reportedly, they want to remove some trees, and widen and straighten the channel. However, according to a frustrated Houston City Council Member Dave Martin, no agreement has been reached.
Meanwhile the school for more than 500 children almost flooded for the third time in six months. It’s hard to imagine Kingwood without its largest parochial school or one of its most popular day care/after school facilities. It’s time for
Harris County Flood Control should be concluding a major study of all Kingwood drainage soon…including Ben’s Branch. Let’s hope that helps wake Friendswood up to some new realities.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/29/2019
792 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 40 since Imelda
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/RJR_3827.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000&ssl=110001500adminadmin2019-10-29 22:03:222019-10-29 22:09:47Two Inches of Rain Should Never Have Caused This
By Debbie Z. Harwell, PhD, Editor of Houston History Magazine
Many claims have been made about increasing local flood frequency. They raise the question, “How accurate are those statements?” The report “Significant Houston Area Floods” by Jill F. Hasling, CCM, offers an interesting list for analysis that ranges from April 1837 through February 2019 (two more floods have since occurred in May and September 2019).
Increase in Flood Frequency
Our first flood took place in April 1837, just eight months after Houston was founded at the confluence of Buffalo and White Oak Bayous. Six months later another flood found Main Street under four feet of water. But Houstonians persisted…and so did the flooding.
In the first 100 years following Houston’s founding, it experienced 36 floods, in the next 82 years, it has seen an additional 146 floods, or four times as many as in the first century.
Broken down into 30-year periods, the trend looks like this. Note that only 3 years exist in the last column so far and it already has more floods than each of the first two 30-year periods.
Note: Last column contains only three years and already has more floods than each of the first two thirty-year periods.
Percentage of Tropical Vs. Non-Tropical Floods
One might think that our location along the Gulf Coast and the tropical systems that come ashore are to blame for this phenomenon, but tropical systems account for only 15% (27) of these events. The other 85% (155) were caused by rain that either fell in large quantities in a short period of time or lingered in the area for multiple days; this includes 22 winter storms.
Early Flood Mitigation Efforts
With the exception of the 1900 Storm, which hit Galveston but also caused fatalities and flooding on the mainland, the worst of Houston’s early floods occurred in 1929 and 1935 (watch video), causing multiple deaths and wiping out homes, businesses, bridges, and the main water plant. With two back to back floods of this magnitude it was time to take action.
In the midst of the New Deal, the federal government put the Army Corps of Engineers in the flood control business. Houston benefited with funding for the Barker and Addicks Reservoirs, completed in 1946 and 1948 respectively, after a delay during World War II. Although creation of two proposed drainage channels north and south of Buffalo Bayou to relieve flooding did not come to fruition, the reservoirs brought some relief along Buffalo Bayou.
Influence of Urban Growth on Flooding
As Houston grew, so did it’s flooding problem, going beyond Buffalo and White Oak Bayous to include the other 22 Harris County watersheds. By 1983, Houston floods regularly saw the number of inundated homes reach into the thousands. In 1994, ninety subdivisions, including 3,400 homes, flooded. This flood was considered the benchmark for many Kingwood residents to determine the probability that their home might flood in the future. As a result, many did not have flood insurance when Harvey hit because they believed they were safe since their home did not have water in 1994.
Today some people point fingers at others, saying their flooding problem is of their own making because they built or bought a house in the floodplain, when in fact the area where their homes are located did not have a flooding problem years earlier. Rather, development around them or upstream created issues. (View Kinder Institute’s interactive map of Houston development.)
This has been documented in Meyerland in the last four years, and the most recent floods in Kingwood’s Elm Grove in May and September 2019 also make a similar case. The Elm Grove homes had never flooded and did not flood in Harvey, but now they have flooded twice in four months with the water levels increasing. Although a definitive cause for the May flood is in litigation, homeowners believe development north of them created the flooding problem. Sadly some of these residents also did not have flood insurance because they figured they were safe after Harvey.
How Quickly We Forget!
Increasingly, these rain events leave our infrastructure overtaxed, whether trying to handle street runoff or rising water in our bayous, streams, and rivers. It seems, though, that many people have let flooding fall off their radar if they were not personally impacted or time has passed, putting flooding out of sight, out of mind.
When the Kinder Institute asked Houstonians in its annual survey what they thought was the “biggest problem in Houston” prior to Harvey but after the Memorial Day 2015 and Tax Day 2016 floods, only 1% spontaneously replied “flooding.” That number grew to 15% in 2018 when asked post-Harvey. But when surveyed in 2019, with only street flooding the year before, the number who identified flooding as our biggest problem dropped down to 7%. Traffic was the leader, going from 24% in 2017 to 36% in 2019.
The list of Houston area floods clearly shows that Houston has experienced more frequent flooding of an increasingly serious nature. Everyone thought Tropical Storm Allison was “off the charts” until Harvey hit. Imelda was not as bad as Harvey, but in just two short days it managed to be the seventh leading rain event in the nation.
Need for New Ways to Address Flooding
Major floods in four of the last five years demonstrate that the old ways of addressing flooding a little at a time, or doing nothing at all, are not adequate to protect our families, homes, and businesses and maintain our quality of life in Houston.
Debbie Z. Harwell, Ph.D.
Editor, Houston History
Instructional Assistant Faculty
University of Houston
Posted on 10/28/2019 by Debbie Z. Harwell, PhD with help from Bob Rehak
790 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 39 since Imelda
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/SignificantHoustonFloodsSince1837.jpg?fit=1500%2C1099&ssl=110991500adminadmin2019-10-28 12:16:492019-10-28 12:21:17Is Flood Frequency Really Increasing?
Recovery specialists from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), local and state agencies will staff the centers. They can answer questions about disaster assistance and low-interest disaster loans. They can also help survivors apply for federal disaster assistance. The closest centers to the Lake Houston Area are at the following locations:
Harris County Social Services Building
9418 Jensen Drive
Houston, TX 77093
May County Center
2100 Wolf Road
Huffman, TX 77336
Montgomery County Disaster Recovery Center
Bullas Sallas Park – Fair Association Building
21675 McCleskey Road
New Cany, TX 77359
Jack Hartel Bld.
318 San Jacinto Street
Liberty, TX 77575
Seven Days a Week (Until Further Notice)
DRCs help state and local officials maximize their reach to as many affected areas and survivors as possible. The centers offer in-person support to Texas homeowners, renters and business owners who sustained damage or losses during Tropical Storm Imelda.
Individual Assistance
Texas homeowners, renters and business owners in Chambers, Harris, Jefferson, Liberty, Montgomery and Orange counties that were included in the major disaster declaration for Individual Assistancemay apply for uninsured and underinsured damage and losses incurred from Sept. 17 – 23, 2019.
Individual Assistance for homeowners and renters may be eligible for grants to help pay for temporary housing, home repairs and other serious disaster-related expenses not met by insurance or other assistance programs.
Disaster survivors must meet the following criteria qualify for assistance through the Individuals and Households Program:
Disaster losses are in a presidentially-declared disaster area.
The damage to the home must have been caused by the declared disaster.
The homeowner must provide proof of ownership.
Both renters and homeowners may also be eligible for Other Needs Assistance (ONA) through FEMA. ONA helps survivors with uninsured or underinsured necessary expenses and serious needs caused by the disaster.
A member of the household must be a United States citizen, a non-citizen national, or a qualified alien.
The damaged home is where the applicant lives the majority of the year.
The applicant must have maintained flood insurance if assisted by FEMA in a previous disaster.
The damaged home is inaccessible or not livable due to the disaster.
The disaster survivor has necessary expenses or serious needs as a result of the disaster that are not covered by insurance or any othersource.
How to Register Online
To register, go online to DisasterAssistance.gov or call the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362. Help is available in most languages and phone lines are open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week until further notice.
What to Bring if You Go to a DRC
Survivors who plan to register with FEMA at a DRC should have the following information:
Social Security number
Address of the damaged primary residence
Description of the damage
Information about insurance coverage
A current contact telephone number
An address where they can receive mail
Bank account and routing numbers for direct deposit of funds
Other Types of Assistance Available
Low-interest disaster loans from SBA are also available to businesses, private nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters to cover residential and business losses as a result of the disaster. Applicants can visit a DRC for one-on-one assistance, visit www.SBA.gov/disaster, or call SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955.
Difference Between SBA Loan and Individual Assistance
Many people I talk to have been wiped out financially by back-to floods. They fear they may not have the ability to repay an SBA loan. Therefore, they don’t want to apply for one. If you fall into that category, understand that being turned down for an SBA loan may qualify you for Individual Assistance. To get IA, you need to apply for an SBA loan first.
Group Flood Insurance
If you had Individual or Other Needs Assistance from a previous flood, you may already have GROUP flood insurance and not even know it. As part of the effort to reduce future expenses from floods, FEMA directly purchases Group Flood Insurance Policy (GFIP) certificates on behalf of applicants who are required to buy and maintain flood insurance BUT who may not otherwise be able to purchase a policy. FEMA may pay $600 under Other Needs Assistance (ONA) for three years of flood insurance for eligible ONA recipients. So if you flooded during Harvey and again on May 7th or during Imelda, check this out. Here is a factsheet on group flood insurance and a previous post on the subject.
For People with Disabilities
Disaster recovery centers are accessible to people with disabilities. American Sign Language interpreters may be available to assist at a DRC.
FEMA Disaster survivors who are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech disability and use a TTY may call 800-462-7585 to register. Those who use 711 or VRS (Video Relay Service) or require accommodations while visiting a center may call 800-621-3362. All disaster recovery centers are accessible and equipped with tools to accommodate disaster survivors who need disability-related communication aids.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/27/2019
789 Days after Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/LelaFlood1.jpg?fit=1500%2C2000&ssl=120001500adminadmin2019-10-27 15:12:462019-10-28 10:18:42How to Get Help from FEMA and SBA
Two Inches of Rain Should Never Have Caused This
Today, we got two inches of rain between 1:30 and 3:20. That’s according to the closest official gage at US59 and the West Fork. See the graph below. Ben’s Branch came out of its banks almost immediately and nearly flooded St. Martha’s Catholic School and Kids in Action again.
Today’s Rainfall in 10-minute Increments
The Result
St. Martha’s has not yet finished repairs from Imelda. No floodwater actually got in the school today, but it came dangerously close for a rain that was not unusual for this area. The school is at least two feet above the hundred year flood plain and this was a one-year rain at best (see table below).
Across the creek, Heather Jensen at Kids In Action wrote, “We’re currently rebuilding Kids In Action for the second time since May. Can’t stomach a third.” Many people would agree with that!
Expect a Rainfall This Intense at Least Annually
The latest NOAA Atlas-14 rainfall chart for this area shows that we can expect a two-inch rain in two hours at least once a year. If you measure the 10-minute peak, it also works out to a one-year event. Which we’ve had several of this year.
I have lived in Kingwood for 35 years and used to own commercial property near St. Martha’s for twenty years. I have never seen Ben’s Branch do this on a rain like we had today.
During those 35 years, not much has changed along the creek. With few exceptions, the bridges, homes and businesses along this portion of Ben’s Branch have been there the entire time.
New Upstream Development is Major Change
However, new upstream development could be adding to the peaks. The City of Houston confirmed after Imelda that the western tail of Woodridge Village empties into the City storm drains. See two images below.
The storm drains, which also empty Sherwood, in turn empty into Ben’s Branch. See image below.
The shot above is looking north, parallel to Woodland Hills Drive. Below, you can see the reverse angle, looking south. The shot was taken from the second floor of Kids in Action on the north side of the creek. Notice how water from that drain is shooting across the creek, creating more turbulence than the flood itself.
Below St. Martha’s, A Different World
Compare the width of the Ben’s Branch channel in the photos above to the width in the photos below, where the stream goes through a natural area.
Such obstructions, turns, tangles and narrow beds slow the velocity of the water, causing it to back up. No doubt, these factors play a role in the repetitive flooding, as does upstream development.
Political and Legal Obstructions Complicate Matters
Maintenance responsibilities for this portion of Ben’s Branch are in flux. That may be the kindest way to say it. Nothing has really changed since Harvey.
The Bear Branch Trail Association owns the property according to this deed and the Harris County Appraisal District.
However, from reading the deed, you can see that Friendswood still exercises deed restrictions on the property, especially those applying to drainage. When it comes to saying yea or nay to major changes that affect the character of the greenbelt on either side of Ben’s Branch, Friendswood appears to be in control to this day.
Major Friendswood deed restrictions include:
What Next for Ben’s Branch
Last year, the City reportedly agreed with Harris County Flood Control to assume responsibility for all underground drainage in the county would assume responsibility for all above ground drainage. Since then, the two have been trying to sort out responsibilities.
Harris County Flood Control has sought an easement at least since January from Friendswood and Bear Branch Trail Association. Reportedly, they want to remove some trees, and widen and straighten the channel. However, according to a frustrated Houston City Council Member Dave Martin, no agreement has been reached.
Meanwhile the school for more than 500 children almost flooded for the third time in six months. It’s hard to imagine Kingwood without its largest parochial school or one of its most popular day care/after school facilities. It’s time for
Harris County Flood Control should be concluding a major study of all Kingwood drainage soon…including Ben’s Branch. Let’s hope that helps wake Friendswood up to some new realities.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/29/2019
792 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 40 since Imelda
Is Flood Frequency Really Increasing?
By Debbie Z. Harwell, PhD, Editor of Houston History Magazine
Many claims have been made about increasing local flood frequency. They raise the question, “How accurate are those statements?” The report “Significant Houston Area Floods” by Jill F. Hasling, CCM, offers an interesting list for analysis that ranges from April 1837 through February 2019 (two more floods have since occurred in May and September 2019).
Increase in Flood Frequency
Our first flood took place in April 1837, just eight months after Houston was founded at the confluence of Buffalo and White Oak Bayous. Six months later another flood found Main Street under four feet of water. But Houstonians persisted…and so did the flooding.
In the first 100 years following Houston’s founding, it experienced 36 floods, in the next 82 years, it has seen an additional 146 floods, or four times as many as in the first century.
Broken down into 30-year periods, the trend looks like this. Note that only 3 years exist in the last column so far and it already has more floods than each of the first two 30-year periods.
Percentage of Tropical Vs. Non-Tropical Floods
One might think that our location along the Gulf Coast and the tropical systems that come ashore are to blame for this phenomenon, but tropical systems account for only 15% (27) of these events. The other 85% (155) were caused by rain that either fell in large quantities in a short period of time or lingered in the area for multiple days; this includes 22 winter storms.
Early Flood Mitigation Efforts
With the exception of the 1900 Storm, which hit Galveston but also caused fatalities and flooding on the mainland, the worst of Houston’s early floods occurred in 1929 and 1935 (watch video), causing multiple deaths and wiping out homes, businesses, bridges, and the main water plant. With two back to back floods of this magnitude it was time to take action.
In the midst of the New Deal, the federal government put the Army Corps of Engineers in the flood control business. Houston benefited with funding for the Barker and Addicks Reservoirs, completed in 1946 and 1948 respectively, after a delay during World War II. Although creation of two proposed drainage channels north and south of Buffalo Bayou to relieve flooding did not come to fruition, the reservoirs brought some relief along Buffalo Bayou.
Influence of Urban Growth on Flooding
As Houston grew, so did it’s flooding problem, going beyond Buffalo and White Oak Bayous to include the other 22 Harris County watersheds. By 1983, Houston floods regularly saw the number of inundated homes reach into the thousands. In 1994, ninety subdivisions, including 3,400 homes, flooded. This flood was considered the benchmark for many Kingwood residents to determine the probability that their home might flood in the future. As a result, many did not have flood insurance when Harvey hit because they believed they were safe since their home did not have water in 1994.
Today some people point fingers at others, saying their flooding problem is of their own making because they built or bought a house in the floodplain, when in fact the area where their homes are located did not have a flooding problem years earlier. Rather, development around them or upstream created issues. (View Kinder Institute’s interactive map of Houston development.)
This has been documented in Meyerland in the last four years, and the most recent floods in Kingwood’s Elm Grove in May and September 2019 also make a similar case. The Elm Grove homes had never flooded and did not flood in Harvey, but now they have flooded twice in four months with the water levels increasing. Although a definitive cause for the May flood is in litigation, homeowners believe development north of them created the flooding problem. Sadly some of these residents also did not have flood insurance because they figured they were safe after Harvey.
How Quickly We Forget!
Increasingly, these rain events leave our infrastructure overtaxed, whether trying to handle street runoff or rising water in our bayous, streams, and rivers. It seems, though, that many people have let flooding fall off their radar if they were not personally impacted or time has passed, putting flooding out of sight, out of mind.
When the Kinder Institute asked Houstonians in its annual survey what they thought was the “biggest problem in Houston” prior to Harvey but after the Memorial Day 2015 and Tax Day 2016 floods, only 1% spontaneously replied “flooding.” That number grew to 15% in 2018 when asked post-Harvey. But when surveyed in 2019, with only street flooding the year before, the number who identified flooding as our biggest problem dropped down to 7%. Traffic was the leader, going from 24% in 2017 to 36% in 2019.
The list of Houston area floods clearly shows that Houston has experienced more frequent flooding of an increasingly serious nature. Everyone thought Tropical Storm Allison was “off the charts” until Harvey hit. Imelda was not as bad as Harvey, but in just two short days it managed to be the seventh leading rain event in the nation.
Need for New Ways to Address Flooding
Major floods in four of the last five years demonstrate that the old ways of addressing flooding a little at a time, or doing nothing at all, are not adequate to protect our families, homes, and businesses and maintain our quality of life in Houston.
Posted on 10/28/2019 by Debbie Z. Harwell, PhD with help from Bob Rehak
790 Days since Hurricane Harvey and 39 since Imelda
How to Get Help from FEMA and SBA
Disaster Recovery Centers Open in Harris, Montgomery Counties to Help Imelda Survivors
Joint state/federal Disaster Recovery Centers (DRC) opened earlier this month in Harris, Montgomery and certain other southeast Texas counties to help disaster survivors affected by Tropical Storm Imelda.
Recovery specialists from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), local and state agencies will staff the centers. They can answer questions about disaster assistance and low-interest disaster loans. They can also help survivors apply for federal disaster assistance. The closest centers to the Lake Houston Area are at the following locations:
Seven Days a Week (Until Further Notice)
DRCs help state and local officials maximize their reach to as many affected areas and survivors as possible. The centers offer in-person support to Texas homeowners, renters and business owners who sustained damage or losses during Tropical Storm Imelda.
Individual Assistance
Texas homeowners, renters and business owners in Chambers, Harris, Jefferson, Liberty, Montgomery and Orange counties that were included in the major disaster declaration for Individual Assistance may apply for uninsured and underinsured damage and losses incurred from Sept. 17 – 23, 2019.
Individual Assistance for homeowners and renters may be eligible for grants to help pay for temporary housing, home repairs and other serious disaster-related expenses not met by insurance or other assistance programs.
Disaster survivors must meet the following criteria qualify for assistance through the Individuals and Households Program:
How to Register Online
To register, go online to DisasterAssistance.gov or call the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362. Help is available in most languages and phone lines are open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week until further notice.
What to Bring if You Go to a DRC
Survivors who plan to register with FEMA at a DRC should have the following information:
Other Types of Assistance Available
Low-interest disaster loans from SBA are also available to businesses, private nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters to cover residential and business losses as a result of the disaster. Applicants can visit a DRC for one-on-one assistance, visit www.SBA.gov/disaster, or call SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955.
Here is an SBA Loan Fact sheet.
It explains the three different types of available disaster loans:
The fact sheet also describes:
This flowchart explains the three-step SBA Loan Application Process – application, verification, loan – much like any other loan.
Finally, this fact sheet discusses the three ways to register and apply: online, in person or by mail.
Difference Between SBA Loan and Individual Assistance
Many people I talk to have been wiped out financially by back-to floods. They fear they may not have the ability to repay an SBA loan. Therefore, they don’t want to apply for one. If you fall into that category, understand that being turned down for an SBA loan may qualify you for Individual Assistance. To get IA, you need to apply for an SBA loan first.
Group Flood Insurance
If you had Individual or Other Needs Assistance from a previous flood, you may already have GROUP flood insurance and not even know it. As part of the effort to reduce future expenses from floods, FEMA directly purchases Group Flood Insurance Policy (GFIP) certificates on behalf of applicants who are required to buy and maintain flood insurance BUT who may not otherwise be able to purchase a policy. FEMA may pay $600 under Other Needs Assistance (ONA) for three years of flood insurance for eligible ONA recipients. So if you flooded during Harvey and again on May 7th or during Imelda, check this out. Here is a factsheet on group flood insurance and a previous post on the subject.
For People with Disabilities
Disaster recovery centers are accessible to people with disabilities. American Sign Language interpreters may be available to assist at a DRC.
FEMA Disaster survivors who are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech disability and use a TTY may call 800-462-7585 to register. Those who use 711 or VRS (Video Relay Service) or require accommodations while visiting a center may call 800-621-3362. All disaster recovery centers are accessible and equipped with tools to accommodate disaster survivors who need disability-related communication aids.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 10/27/2019
789 Days after Hurricane Harvey