ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — FEMA disaster and unemployment assistance is now available in Orangeburg County for those affected by Hurricane Helene.
Residents and business owners who have uninsured damage or losses could qualify for assistance.
Orangeburg now has reports of 7 homes destroyed, 19 with major damage and 21 with minor damage.
Billy Staley is the director of Orangeburg County Emergency Services. He says the county has reached the threshold in damages to receive help from FEMA.
“We’ve reached a point to where FEMA has declared at the governor’s request and our request that individual assistance declaration for the county," said Staley. "What that means is that the citizens of Orangeburg county can now apply to FEMA for assistance if they have losses that are uninsured or if they need assistance of any type, pretty much they can apply and then FEMA will process those requests to see what they can help with and what they can't.”
Tiana Suber is a spokeswoman for FEMA and says if you apply and get a letter of rejection there could be many reasons and that no, is not final.
“It's not a finality. The letter that you receive is very wordy. It's very long, but if you read through it, or you can call us and we will help you read though it, and it tells you what it is that FEMA needs from you that you are missing in your application process," said Suber. "So don’t give up, don’t get discouraged. Don’t throw the letter away and say, 'Oh FEMA couldn’t help us.' It's not a finality, we just need some more information from you or fix incorrect information anything like that.”
Orangeburg County and FEMA are actively working to set up disaster recovery centers for those affected by Helene.