Bredesen Requests Small Business Administration Declaration

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 | 09:25am

April Storm Victims may be Eligible for Low-Interest Loans

NASHVILLE — Governor Phil Bredesen today requested a Small Business Administration Disaster Declaration for Benton, Dickson, McMinn, Moore, Rutherford and Sequatchie Counties following tornadoes that struck Tennessee on April 10. A SBA Disaster Declaration makes homeowners and businesses affected by the disaster eligible for low-interest loans.
 
“Help from this federal program is another tool that can be used to assist Tennesseans as they recover and rebuild from this deadly storm,” said Bredesen. “The state is working aggressively with local authorities to ensure that all applicable aid programs are engaged in the recovery process.”
 
On April 14 and 15, the Small Business Administration sent preliminary damage assessment teams to Tennessee make on-site inspections of the losses. The survey identified 44 homes with major damage and 768 homes with minor damage. There were 25 businesses identified with major damage. The survey also found that these homes and businesses had uninsured losses of 40 percent or more of their fair replacement cost.
 
“Based on this survey, I believe that we have exceeded the requirements for an SBA Disaster Declaration,” said James Bassham, Director of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.
 
The contiguous counties of Cannon, Carroll, Houston and Humphreys would also be eligible for the SBA Disaster Program.
 
At this time, damage and cost assessments are still on-going by some communities. An additional request for the federal Public Assistance Program to reimburse state and local governments, as well as certain non-profit agencies or utilities, will be made if the assessments qualify for the program by meeting the financial threshold. There were not enough uninsured damages, however, for the state to request the separate federal Individual Assistance Program for individual homeowners or businesses.
 
For more information, consult these online resources:
FEMA’s Public Assistance Program: http://www.fema.gov/government/grant/pa/index.shtm
 
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