Well, the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
or FEMA, has issued a disaster declaration for central and
Southeast Michigan.
That's after the devastating and deadly storms back in August.
Kyle Macon joins us now with more on how people
here in Mid Michigan can get some financial help.
Kyle.
Sherry Siobhan, The National Weather Service says 7 tornadoes touched
down across the state on August 24th.
Today I spoke with FEMA officials who say they're sending
crews to Michigan to speak with people whose properties were
damaged because of those storms and might need financial assistance.
It's just something maybe you don't want to talk about,
you know, or something you're uncomfortable dealing with.
But the fact is if you have damages,
that that's the reason FEMA's here is to help people
financially.
From August 23rd until the 26th,
Michigan saw severe storms and tornadoes that crippled the area,
including communities. Here in Mid Michigan,
five people were also killed as a result of the
weather.
The storms brought flooding downed trees,
destroyed houses, and caused widespread power outages.
And when the weather cleared up,
the damage was clear. To try to ease some of
the financial burden,
FEMA issued a disaster declaration,
which frees up federal funding to help with those costs.
Damaged assessments are done and the state submits an application
to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and it's evaluated for
magnitude and severity.
And then we determine, you know,
when to issue the declaration.
The president signs the declaration,
not not the agency. Starting tomorrow,
cruise with FEMA will be going door to door in
central and southeast Michigan to help people apply for the
assistance.
The federal organization says it will only provide funds for
things that were uninsured.
FEMA assistance goes to people for their primary residence,
for example, if you owned a second home.
You wouldn't be eligible to get FEMA assistance for those
repairs,
but what we want to do is get people back
on their feet in their primary residence and get,
you know, provide them the financial assistance they can they
can use to help them recover.
So if you've had any damages whatsoever and you feel
like you you know you you need to get some
financial assistance.
Don't hesitate to register. For more information on how to
apply for some of this disaster money,
we have a link to FEMA's website on our website
at wlns.com.
Tonight, FEMA also wants people to be on the lookout
for scammers pretending to be FEMA officials.
The real teams will have photo IDs in the field,
and if you're unsure, you can call the FEMA hotline,
which is on the bottom of your screen.
FEMA does not have end dates for the disaster declaration
and plans on working until the job is done.
Back to you. All right,
that's great information for our viewers.
Absolutely.