HONOLULU, September 12 — Six disaster notices from the U.S. Small Business Administration landed in the Federal Register on Sept. 9, and the fine print on each one decides who gets help and who does not. The notices cover Hawaii, California, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Texas. Five are presidential declarations dated Sept. 1.
California’s is an SBA administrative declaration dated Sept. 4, tied not to a storm but to a condominium fire. Only Hawaii’s declaration reaches households.
The declarations for Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Texas are designated Public Assistance Only, directing aid to governments and certain nonprofits rather than to individual homeowners and renters.
Hawaii: A Presidential Declaration That Reaches Households
The Hawaii declaration, FEMA-4936-DR, covers the earthquake that struck at 9:46 p.m. HST on May 22, about 7 miles south of Honaunau-Napoopoo at a depth of 14 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. More than 7,000 people across the state reported feeling it. The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the quake occurred in the Pacific Plate beneath the island, caused by the plate bending under the weight of the Hawaiian Islands — a type of flexure earthquake.
Hawaii County is eligible for SBA physical damage and economic injury loans. The City and County of Honolulu and Kalawao, Kauai and Maui counties qualify for economic injury loans only, according to the SBA notice.
Homeowners without credit available elsewhere can borrow at 2.875 percent; businesses without credit elsewhere at 4 percent. In a July 28 letter supporting the state’s request, Hawaii’s congressional delegation said state and local governments had received reports of damage to 548 homes on the island. A joint preliminary damage assessment of 313 of them found 110 homes with major structural damage or destroyed, and 105 homes lost their water-catchment systems.
Only 5.2 percent of the 548 homes had a standard homeowners policy, and only two had earthquake insurance — a gap the delegation attributed to the extremely high cost of that coverage in the volcanically active region.
Gov. Josh Green said in announcing the federal approval that many families are “still dealing with significant damage to their homes, water-catchment systems and property.” Depending on individual circumstances, FEMA assistance may include temporary housing, basic repairs to make a primary home safe and functional, and repair or replacement of damaged residential water-catchment systems, the state said.
The first deadline arrives Nov. 1 for Hawaii homeowners and businesses seeking SBA physical damage loans — the same day state officials set as the deadline to apply for FEMA assistance tied to the earthquake. The declaration covers the earthquake only. The governor’s office said it is separate from recovery efforts for Hurricane Lala, which raked past the Big Island in mid-August and was blamed for two deaths.
It also does not address Hurricane Lowell, which passed just west of Niihau and Kauai as a Category 2 storm on Sept. 7 and left most Kauai residents without power, NBC News reported. Federal help for storm damage would require separate action.
Four States Where the Money Goes to Governments
Four of the six notices are Public Assistance Only. In those areas, SBA loans are limited to private nonprofits that provide essential services of a governmental nature, at 3.625 percent. In Iowa, FEMA-4942-DR covers severe storms and flooding from July 1 to July 4 in Jasper, Polk, Story and Warren counties — an area that includes the Des Moines metro and Ames.
In Kansas, FEMA-4940-DR covers severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding from June 4 to June 15, spanning 30 counties, along with the Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. In Missouri, FEMA-4939-DR covers severe storms, straight-line winds and flooding from July 9 to July 11, with designated counties Bollinger, Crawford, Iron, Madison, Morgan, Reynolds, Ripley, Washington and Wayne.
In Texas, FEMA-4935-DR covers severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding beginning July 12, with the incident period listed as continuing. Its 19 counties stretch across the Hill Country and border region, including Kerr, Kendall, Gillespie, Bandera, Uvalde, Val Verde and Maverick. For households in those counties, the declarations mainly pay for public work such as debris removal and repairs to roads, bridges, utilities and public buildings.
Residents should watch for announcements from their state emergency management agency as damage assessments continue.
California: A Condo Fire, Not a Storm
California’s declaration is not tied to a natural hazard. SBA issued it Sept. 4 for the Foster City Sea Spray Fire of Aug. 2 and
