The June 14 deadline for Kona low storm assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has passed, but FEMA said it may not be too late to apply, under certain circumstances.
“If you had an extenuating circumstance that prevented you from applying during the application period, such as a major illness or another significant barrier, you may still be able to apply to submit a late application,” Erin Hills, FEMA Region 9 Individual Assistance Supervisor, told HPR. “You can call the FEMA helpline at 1-800-621-3362. Late applications are reviewed case-by-case and are not guaranteed, but we want to hear from you if you had a good cause for delaying.”
Other reasons for a late application could include limited access to communications, extended displacement, being out of the country for an extended period of time, or a death in the family.
After applications are completed, a FEMA inspector may contact residents for a home inspection.
“We want to really encourage people to keep an eye out for a call from an inspector to make sure they can continue the process, because that is the biggest thing that we're seeing right now in terms of impediments to people moving through the process,” Brady Penn, a FEMA Region 9 spokesperson, said.
“We've completed (approximately) 95% of all the inspections that have been issued so far,” he added.
Penn suggested if a resident has filed an application and not heard back from FEMA within a few days, to call the agency to “make sure that nothing is falling through the cracks, and that they didn't miss a call from an inspector.”
Penn said so far, the agency has received more than 4,000 applications for individual assistance across the state in storm-impacted counties. Over 1,200 of those have been from Maui County.
“Although the deadline has passed, FEMA remains here to support residents in their recovery,” Hills said.
FEMA has approved more than $16 million in assistance so far for Hawai’i residents affected by the Kona low storms in March.
