President Biden has approved a disaster declaration for the spring flooding in parts of Alaska. According to a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) press release, federal disaster assistance is available now to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by flooding from May 12 to June 3.
This makes federal funding available to affected individuals in the following Regional Educational Attendance Areas (REAA): Kuspuk, Lower Kuskokwim, Lower Yukon, Yukon Flats, and Copper River. According to the press release, assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.
Even if you have already registered for the State of Alaska's disaster assistance program, you must also register with FEMA to determine if you may be eligible to receive additional funds through FEMA.
FEMA assistance is unable to duplicate benefits offered through insurance, state programs, or other programs. But if your losses or damage go beyond disaster assistance available from other sources, or include items or categories not covered by other assistance, you may be eligible for additional funds from FEMA.
Be sure to apply for both state and FEMA disaster assistance so that you can receive all of the assistance from FEMA that may be available based on your eligibility. If you still have unmet needs, they may be able to be addressed through other sources.
You can apply for FEMA assistance by visiting disasterassistance.gov, using the FEMA mobile app, or contacting a FEMA specialist by calling 1-866-342-1699 between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. AKDT, Monday through Sunday. The hotline has staff trained to answer Alaska-specific questions.
If you require a reasonable accommodation such as language translation or interpretation, mobility assistance, or sign language interpretation, call or text 907-727-6221 or email FEMA-language-access-request@fema.dhs.gov. You can also notify staff in the field.
In addition to individual assistance, the Bering Strait School, Copper River, Kuspuk, Lower Yukon, and Yukon Flats REAAs have been approved for FEMA Public Assistance, which provides supplemental grants to state, tribal, territorial and local governments, and certain types of private non-profits so that communities can quickly recover from major disasters or emergencies by helping to cover the cost of debris removal and the restoration of public infrastructure.
Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.
