Oklahoma Flood Victims See Last Day To Apply For FEMA

Victims of spring flooding and tornadoes have until midnight tonight to apply for FEMA assistance.

Wednesday, August 14th 2019, 8:46 pm

By: Amy Avery


Victims of spring flooding and tornadoes have until midnight tonight to apply for FEMA assistance.

Tulsa County leaders say most people have already applied but it’s crucial for those who haven’t applied to get their application submitted.

A lot of people in the Town and Country neighborhood still aren't back in their homes after devastating flooding in May, and not only has this process been lengthy but it's also been expensive

"We thought it would never happen again," said Tatia Crow. “People kept saying are you afraid for the waters rising and I wasn't, but im going to pay attention to it a lot more.”

Crow remembers helping her parents clean up during the flood of 1986. Now she and her husband are living with her mother and rebuilding their home again.

“She didn’t expect it until the last second and to see the defeat that was on her face to see that she was going to lose her house again,” said Crow.

Crow is a special education paraprofessional at Sand Springs Public Schools and she has to return to work on Thursday.

She says she and her husband have moved around a lot over the past three months but are hoping to have a trailer closer to their home soon.

“I don’t know where the majority of my clothing is,” said Crow. “It’s just a process.”

Crow says she and her husband had flood insurance, but they still applied for FEMA assistance to help fill in the gaps.

She says the process for determining what was lost has been lengthy.

“We’ve been taking pictures and tagging stuff, and trying to figure out what you lost that you haven’t seen since then but you know it’s gone,” said Crow.

FEMA says they have already given $65 million to residents across the state.

Crow and many of her neighbors make up the 5,000 Oklahomans who have already applied, but the deadline is quickly approaching.

“They have really helped a lot of our homeowners out west so if you haven’t done that I really encourage you to do so,” said Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith.

Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith visited Town and Country neighborhood yesterday and says it's nice to see people moving back into their homes but some, like Crow, still have a long way to go.

“If you look around the neighborhood a lot of people are living in their fifth wheel or an RV to get by right now,” said Keith.

But Keith says it’s been nice to see the community pulling together and it’s made her much closer to the people in her district.

“It’s just a fabulous community of people who really care about each other, look after each other and are really pulling each other through this disaster,” said Keith.

Because even three months later, many are still feeling the impact.

“A lot of the attention has gone away but there's still so much need,” said Keith.

You have until midnight to file at DisasterAssistance.gov. You can also use the FEMA app.

“You may hear back from FEMA in a rejection if you do there are avenues to apply but you can’t even protest that if you don’t apply today,” said Keith.

If you applied but were rejected, Keith encourages you to reach out to Catholic Charities. She says they have an 85% success rate with appeals for FEMA assistance.

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