St. Louis residents affected by the May 16 tornado can receive in-person services from the Federal Emergency Management Agency at disaster recovery centers through Thursday, but then the centers will close permanently.
The recovery centers at Union Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church and the Urban League Entrepreneurship and Women's Business Center have been open since late June. FEMA staff there help residents with their disaster assistance applications, answer questions and upload required documents.
A FEMA spokesperson said many of the people using the centers now are coming for application status checks, which can be done online.
Stanley Prince visited the center at Union Tabernacle on Thursday with the deed to his home in hand. This was his fourth visit to a recovery center after his application for FEMA aid was denied.
Prince's roof was damaged in the storm, but his aid application was initially denied because his home health provider listed that he rented his home when he actually owned it. FEMA staff helped Prince figure out what he needed to do to receive help.
"I didn't know that I had to take the deed down to the city to get it processed," Prince said. "I'm thinking since I have the deed in my name, it's been notarized and stuff, that I owned the house."
Prince submitted his application before the Aug. 26 deadline.
He said FEMA and the disaster recovery centers have been helpful to him.
"It's been a good thing, for real, man, because it's rough," Prince said. "I'm doing my best right now to clean up and get the debris cleared from my house."
After the centers close, residents can visit disasterassistance.gov, call 1-800-621-3362 or use the FEMA app to get help.
It may still be possible to receive aid by applying late or appealing a FEMA decision.
FEMA has provided more than $46 million in aid to more than 9,000 people since the storm.
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