On Thursday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency established a Disaster Recovery Center for Beaufort County, opening the doors of the Bobby Andrews Recreation Center to assist those who suffered impacts from Hurricane Florence.

As of Tuesday, 20,350 individual assistant applications had been approved throughout North Carolina, providing more than $73 million in aid to individuals and households affected by the storm.

The first step to qualifying for this money is simple — apply for disaster assistance with FEMA. This can be accomplished in one of three ways:

• Call 1-800-621-3362 (TTY: 1-800-462-7585)
• Visit disasterassistance.gov. At this site, you can apply for assistance and keep tabs on your application throughout the process.
• Visit the Beaufort County FEMA Disaster Recovery Center, located in the Bobby Andrews Recreation Complex, 231 East Seventh Street, Washington. Representatives from FEMA, the U.S. Small Business Administration and other relief organizations are on hand to help guide you through the recovery process. The DRC is open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday.

In order to complete the process smoothly, the following information is helpful:

• Social Security Number (SSN), or, the SSN of a minor child in the household who is a U.S. Citizen, Non-Citizen National or Qualified Alien.
• Annual Household Income
• Contact Information (phone number, mailing address, and damaged home address)
  Insurance Information (coverage, insurance company name, etc.)
• Bank Account Information (if you are eligible to receive financial assistance, the money can be deposited in your account)

Even in the event that you are denied assistance by FEMA, it is still important to put in an application for two reasons. For you, it may open up the door to other forms of financial assistance. For Beaufort County as a whole, when residents apply, the overall picture of the county’s situation becomes clearer, potentially opening the door to more federal assistance in the future.

Whether you rent or own, and no matter how badly your property was damaged, applying for FEMA assistance is highly recommended. At the very least, you will help officials understand the extent of the damage to our community. At the best, you may find a piece of the millions of dollars in recovery money flowing into our state.