Disaster Service Center Opens in Flushing
Local business owner Ben Harris, located in Jamaica, Queens for over 79 years now, recounts the damage and the spectacle of Aug. 8 vividly. “Thousands of people were out on the sidewalk with no transportation,” Harris recalled. “You needed a boat to get through there!”
The devastating storm that hit the city on August 8th, flooding sections of Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island to varying degrees, was followed by an eerie silence from both the state and federal governments. Almost two weeks passed before residents and business owners from the affected areas had a formal request for federal assistance submitted on their behalf from Governor Spitzer’s office. Finally, over three weeks after the storm, Queens County alone was declared a federal disaster and FEMA responded.
Flushing is now the home to the Borough of Queens Disaster Assistance Service Center, a “one stop shop for federal, state, and city agencies” according to Barbara Lynch, a FEMA regional spokeswoman present at the opening today. She went on to explain the process of receiving federal aid as a sort of last resort for residents and business owners after all city and state avenues have been exhausted.
Also involved are various government agencies at the local, city, and state level including the Human Resources Administration, the NYC Office of Emergency Management, the State Emergency Management Office, and the Red Cross.
The initial application must be made to the Small Business Administration and then, after a federal inspector assess the damages, the claim is passed on to FEMA for processing. Michael B. Peacock, a communications specialist for the SBA, said that low interest loans – up to $200k for property owners and up to $1.5 million for businesses – would be the primary source of disaster relief from the federal government.