SBA Approves Disaster Assistance For Two Illinois Counties
A flooded corn field along Route 130 near Villa Grove in Douglas County. The county suffered flood damage last December, but is not part of the region approved for SBA assistance. Andrew Pritchard/SkyDrama.Net
The US Small Business Administration has approved Illinois’ request to help victims of severe storms and flooding that occurred in late December and early January in Iroquois and Christian counties.
Governor Bruce Rauner’s office says the approval will make SBA disaster loans available to affected people and businesses in the two counties --- plus adjacent counties, including Vermilion, Macon Ford, Kankakee, Montgomery, Sangamon and Shelby counties in Illinois, and Benton and Newton counties in western Indiana.
Details about the loan program and the opening of a Disaster Loan Outreach Center are expected in the near future.
The governor's office says damage assessmengs conductin in February identified 33 homes and six buisnesses in Christian County and 22 homes and five businesses in Iroquois County that sustained uninsured losses of 40% or more from last December's storms and flooding. That meets the SBA criteria for a disaster declaration, which requires that at least 25 homes or businesses sustain such damage.for a county to qualify.
The S-B-A’s approval of Illinois’ disaster aid request comes a month after the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA, rejected similar requests for aid for some two dozen Illinois counties. The Rauner administration has appealed FEMA’s decision.
Meanwhile, Illinois lawmakers have backed legislation in Congress to change FEMA’s formula for deciding when to provide disaster aid. They say that formula ignores rural areas in states that also have heavily populated urban areas.