Deadline Arrives For Vermonters To Seek Irene Help

Disaster assistance officials are urging anyone who might have suffered any level of damage from the August storm to call FEMA before the 10 p.m. deadline tonight, or go to FEMA's web site before midnight to register.

The phone number is 1-800-621-FEMA. The web site is www.disasterassistance.gov.

Carl Sherrill is with the Small Business Administration, which provides disaster assistance to individuals along side FEMA. He says the registration takes about 15 minutes, and the household member who pays the bills should find the process simple to complete:

(Sherrill) "If I were filling this out, the only I might have to look up is the number of my insurance policy. Otherwise, you know about how much you make every month, you how much you pay for the rent or the mortgage, the gas, the electricity. Pull out the credits cards in your wallet and list those. But there's no need to look up those balances or look up those credit card balances. Just fill that out to the best of your ability and get it in."

(Host) Representatives from FEMA and SBA say as long as you start the registration before tonight's deadlines, you can provide missing information in the next few days.

About 6,900 Vermonters have already registered for assistance and about $43 million in grants and loans has been approved so far.

Register for FEMA assistance online by midnight or register by phone before 10 p.m.

800-621-FEMA (3362)