Click on your county on the map to see the assistance you are eligible for.
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The declaration by the President makes the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Individual Assistance Program available to eligible homeowners, renters, and businesses, regardless of income. As of today, residents in Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Muscatine, Woodbury, Pottawattamie, Shelby, Louisa, and Scott counties have been included in a Presidential Disaster Declaration, making their citizens eligible to apply for this assistance. However, if you've been impacted by the recent flooding and you don't live in one of those counties, register anyway. By doing this, you could help the citizens in your county become eligible for assistance.
When you apply by phone or online, you'll be walked through the kinds of assistance that are available and what you need to do to apply.
Deadline
If a Presidential Disaster Declaration for Individual Assistance is issued for a county for the same event, the State program is automatically canceled for that county, as the federal program then goes into effect. The federal program does not have an income restriction.
Disaster unemployment assistance expands eligibility for unemployment benefits and provides assistance to the self-employed including business owners and farmers. Iowa Workforce Development will hold public events to assist individuals in filing the claims and those dates and locations will be announced shortly.
Recovery specialists from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and other state and federal agencies are on hand to explain assistance programs, provide information about available services, help survivors register for federal disaster assistance and/or check the status of their disaster aid applications.
SBA Business Recovery CenterAdvanced search features to find short-term leases for flood-impacted Iowans. A toll-free call center, staffed with housing specialists who are happy to help you find a housing solution.
If you are having trouble contacting your loan servicer and need additional assistance working with them, contact Iowa Mortgage Help to create the best plan of action to keep your home. Trained mortgage counselors will provide free, confidential services and clients may also receive free legal assistance. Regardless of who services your home loan, you can take advantage of Iowa Mortgage Help.
Disaster Case Management is a time limited resource and process that involves a partnership between a disaster case manager and a household impacted by a disaster to develop and carry out a Disaster Recovery Plan. This partnership provides the client with a single point of contact to facilitate access to a broad range of resources, promoting sustainable assistance for an individual's and a household's recovery. These services are client-focused and provided in a manner consistent with standards for trauma-informed practice in human services.
The SBA provides low-interest disaster loans to help businesses and homeowners recover from declared disasters.
Iowa's certified Local Housing Trust Funds can provide information on financial assistance for a variety of housing recovery needs including home repairs, down payment assistance and rental assistance for income-qualified households.
The Iowa Finance Authority offers two mortgage programs for Iowa home buyers. Both programs provide 30-year, fixed rate mortgages. Loans may be conventional or loans backed by the federal government.
Check to see if the contractor offering services to repair your home is registered with the State.
Consumers are encouraged to contact the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General's Office if they have consumer complaints about questionable contractors or price-gouging. Price-gouging definition: charging extremely high and unjustified prices for products or services that are necessary for disaster victims.
The Attorney General's Office advises consumers to be wary of home-repair scams and shady cleanup and construction contractors who tend to solicit victims of natural disasters. Many of these contractors come from out of state, seek business door-to-door and ask for advance payment.
Discover recovery assitance resources and get answers to frequently asked questions.
The Center for Rural Affairs is partnering with Farm Aid and Iowa Farmers Union to provide grants up to $500 to Iowa farmers impacted by the recent flooding. Individuals must be located in an area damaged by the recent flooding and must be farmers. The grant can be used for household expenses, including medical bills, and may not be used for professional expenses related to farming operations.
Five simple steps. Learn about USDA disaster assistance programs that might be right for you.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has 463 public wildlife areas that can be opened up to haying and grazing to help livestock farmers hit by severe weather.
Catastrophic floods have left an indelible mark on many rural Iowa landscapes. This guide was developed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to aide Iowa farmers and rural residents in their clean-up activities.
The Iowa Museums, Archives, Libraries Emergency Response Team (IMALERT) is available for advice on salvaging family keepsakes.
Iowa Legal Aid provides free legal assistance to low income and older Iowans with civil legal problems. They have ten regional offices around the state and serve all 99 counties in Iowa.
Heartland Flood Help is a project of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) - the single largest funder of civil legal aid for low-income Americans in the nation. LSC operates as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that promotes equal access to justice and provides grants for high-quality civil legal assistance to low-income Americans.
Find resources to help you replace documents that have been destroyed or lost in the floods.
In response to recent and ongoing disaster events, local emergency management officials are getting organized and assessing needs. To be ready, we urge interested volunteers to pre-register and indicate interest in volunteering in the event of a disaster or learn about current openings for volunteers.