Bismarck, N.D. - Gov. John Hoeven today announced that the President has approved his request for the federal Individual Assistance (IA) Program to help flood-affected individuals and businesses in 26 counties in North Dakota. The notification came this afternoon, following a meeting Hoeven held this morning in Bismarck with FEMA Region 8 acting director Douglas A. Gore.

The 26 impacted counties eligible for the Individual Assistance Program include: Adams, Barnes, Billings, Burleigh, Cass, Dickey, Emmons, Foster, Grand Forks, Griggs, Hettinger, Kidder, LaMoure, Logan, McIntosh, Mercer, Morton, Nelson, Ransom, Richland, Sargent, Steele, Stutsman, Towner and Traill and Williams counties. The state continues to work to document damages in other counties to determine eligibility for additional federal assistance.

"The Individual Assistance Program will be valuable in helping people at a personal level as they work to repair and rebuild their homes, and get their businesses up and running again," Hoeven said.

Included in the Individual Assistance Program are the Individual and Household Program; the Other Needs Programs; Disaster Unemployment Assistance; Crisis Counseling; Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loans; and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) assistance.

Together, the various programs under the individual assistance program can help people pay for temporary housing, repairs to their homes, and funding toward replacement of a home that has been totally destroyed. It also includes "Other Need Assistance," which may cover medical, dental, funeral, transportation, moving and storage, and other expenses associated with the disaster for qualified individuals.

Mobile Disaster Recovery Centers will be deployed in impacted areas to help residents sign up for the various programs available under the program. Representatives of state, federal, and voluntary agencies, as well as Customer Service Representatives from the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Disaster Assistance will be on hand to answer questions and provide recovery information.

Plans are underway initially to open three fixed facilities, in Bismarck, Linton and Fargo, and mobile disaster recovery centers in outlying areas. We encourage individuals who have suffered losses in any county within the state to register for FEMA assistance at http://www.disasterassistance.gov or call 1-800-621-3362.

Hoeven made the request earlier this week based on recently completed documentation by Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA) teams working in flood-damaged communities throughout the state. The Governor also spoke earlier with President Obama, Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano, and other federal officials to expedite the approval.

Individuals who have lost their jobs, who are unable to reach their place of work, or who cannot work due to a disaster-related injury may also be eligible for assistance. Job Service North Dakota has resources and personnel at the ready, and will have contact and claims information available on the agency?s web site Monday morning. (www.jsnd.com)

The Small Business Administration can also provide low interest disaster loans to homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes and private, non-profit organizations to repair or replace real estate, personal property, machinery and equipment, inventory and business assets that have been damaged or destroyed in a declared disaster.

Hoeven said based on the level of expenses incurred and of damages he has seen, he?s confident the state will qualify for a 90 percent federal match, rather than the 75 percent federal, 25 percent local match that would currently apply.

"We will continue to gather data to support our request for a higher federal match," Hoeven said. "Clearly, our homeowners, businesses and communities have incurred significant losses owing to a both severe winter weather and subsequent flooding throughout the state."

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