FEMA give Suffolk disaster status

More substantial disaster relief from the federal government will now be available to all of Long Island following Tropical Storm Irene.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved Suffolk County residents and business owners to apply for and receive disaster aid in the form of loans and grants, officials announced Friday afternoon. The designation for Suffolk County comes a day after Nassau County was added to the individual assistance program.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said he was grateful for the news.

"The storm damage knows no boundaries," Levy said.

The aid will hopefully go a long way toward helping county residents and businesses, he added.

Both Nassau and Suffolk counties were already eligible for public assistance from FEMA — which will provide monetary aid for storm clean up and repairing public property.
Many New York politicians had spoken out against excluding Nassau and Suffolk counties from the original list of counties eligible for individual assistance. Both Nassau and Suffolk were added to the list after damage evaluations from a group of federal, state and local officials.

“I thank FEMA for moving quickly to further assess the damages and needs of New Yorkers impacted by Hurricane Irene,” Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement. Several other New York counties were also added to the disaster assistance list.
For more information and to apply for federal assistance, visit www.DisasterAssistance.gov or call 800-621-3362.

Shown above, storm damage in Huntington on Wednesday.

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