FEMA

FEMA -The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) aids individuals, communities, and local governments affected by disasters, helping them recover and rebuild.

 FEMA Individual and Household Program: Individuals and Households Program | FEMA.gov  Apply online, over the phone 800-621-3362, or in person with officials.

  Individuals and Households Program (IHP) provides financial and direct services to eligible individuals and households affected by a disaster. IHP assistance is not a substitute for insurance and cannot compensate for all losses caused by a disaster. The assistance is intended to meet your basic needs and supplement disaster recovery efforts.

 Can cover temporary housing, repair or replacement of owner-occupied homes, a temporary housing unit, hazard mitigation assistance, or other disaster caused expenses.

Small Business Administration

Provides low-interest loans to businesses or homeowners/individuals for disaster recovery efforts. Apply now. You do not have to know when you are going to reopen yet and you do not have to accept it or disperse it immediately, but they are suggesting for business owners and anyone looking for this type of loan to apply ASAP.

  Link online: Disaster assistance | U.S. Small Business Administration (sba.gov)

 Phone Number: 800-659-2955 from 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. ET Monday through Friday. If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

 Email: disastercustomerservice@ sba.gov

FEMA

FEMA -The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) aids individuals, communities, and local governments affected by disasters, helping them recover and rebuild.

 FEMA Individual and Household Program: Individuals and Households Program | FEMA.gov  Apply online, over the phone 800-621-3362, or in person with officials.

  Individuals and Households Program (IHP) provides financial and direct services to eligible individuals and households affected by a disaster. IHP assistance is not a substitute for insurance and cannot compensate for all losses caused by a disaster. The assistance is intended to meet your basic needs and supplement disaster recovery efforts.

 Can cover temporary housing, repair or replacement of owner-occupied homes, a temporary housing unit, hazard mitigation assistance, or other disaster caused expenses.

Small Business Administration

Provides low-interest loans to businesses or homeowners/individuals for disaster recovery efforts. Apply now. You do not have to know when you are going to reopen yet and you do not have to accept it or disperse it immediately, but they are suggesting for business owners and anyone looking for this type of loan to apply ASAP.

  Link online: Disaster assistance | U.S. Small Business Administration (sba.gov)

 Phone Number: 800-659-2955 from 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. ET Monday through Friday. If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

 Email: disastercustomerservice@ sba.gov

Disaster Unemployment Assistance

DUA is a federal program that provides temporary payments for people who, as a direct result of a disaster: No longer have the job that provided their primary source of income, are unable to reach their place of employment, cannot work because of an injury caused by the storm or were unable to begin employment or self-employment due to the storm. Have become the major supplier of household income due to a storm- related death of the previous major supplier of household income.

 The fastest way to file a claim is to file online at des.nc.gov. If you need help, you may file over the phone by calling the DUA Hotline at 919-629-3857.

FEMA RESOURCES FOR INDIVIDUALS:

FEMA has declared Individual Assistance (IA) for Hurricane Helene. What does this mean for you? It means that you can apply for disaster assistance from FEMA to help offset your disaster-related expenses. You can apply online at https://www.disasterassistance.gov/ or by telephone at (800) 621-3362. Otherwise, you can download the FEMA weather app from Google PlayStore or the Apple Store and you can apply for assistance on the app and upload receipts. Whichever method you choose, the form has a few questions that are tricky. To avoid delay, please follow the following tips:

1.   One of the questions that FEMA will ask when you register is “Do You Have Emergency Needs”? This means during your evacuation or since staying at home during the disaster, do you need help with Gas, Medication, Food (meals, water, had no power and everything spoils), Shelter (you are staying with friends, family or in a hotel); Clothing; or Durable Medical Equipment (oxygen, walkers, cane, glasses, all major equipment, etc). If this is true, say “YES” to this question. That will result in your receiving Displacement / Critical Needs Assistance, which is $750.

2.   When asked if your home is/was accessible, answer "NO" if there was debris, tree branches, continued flooding, loss of power, damage or destruction that prevented you from staying there after Helene. This question is asking whether you can stay at your home or apartment and will trigger the ability for you to receive assistance to pay for hotels or provide funding to use while you stay with family or friends.

3.   When asked if utilities are out, say "YES" even if your utilities were out for a few days. This triggers assistance $ to stay somewhere other than your home or to buy fuel to power a generator.

4.    When asked “Are you willing to relocate” say "YES" if you cannot live in your home due to damage, loss of power, etc. This question means you are willing to stay in a hotel or apartment temporarily, and triggers that funding for you. It is not asking if you are willing to move away from your home permanently.

5.   If you bought or buy a generator, FEMA will reimburse you up to $629, but you must submit the receipt. If you bought a chainsaw, FEMA will reimburse you up to $219. Again, you need to provide the receipt. Save your receipts.

Employee relief/unemployment information:

• North Carolina Division of Employment Security’s Disaster Unemployment Pay
• NCRLA Assistance (including NC Hospitality Worker Relief Fund)
• Southern Smoke Foundation – offering emergency assistance to workers in the food and beverage industry in North Carolina

Grants & loans

• U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Disaster Assistance Fund
• U.S. Small Business Administration’s Disaster Relief Program Loans
• Door Dash & Hello Alice – Restaurant Disaster Relief Fund
• NC Disaster Relief Resources for Artists & Arts Organizations
• IRS Tax Relief
• FEMA Assistance

Disaster Assistance Resources and Support Information

• Disaster Unemployment Assistance
• North Carolina Military Business Center-Helene Support
• WNC Business-Small Business Recovery Resources
• Arts NC, with support from Arts AVL 
• NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund
• Carolina Small Business Development Fund Assistance
• Gov-Road Updates
• NC Disaster Relief Fund
• Pisgah Health Foundation
• North Carolina Department of Public Safety
• Duke Energy Outage Tracker
• NC Rural Center
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• Water Safety
• SBTDC Recovery Resources

Henderson County Resources

• Henderson County Cooperative Extension Office
• Community Foundation of Henderson County
• City of Hendersonville-Updates
• City of Hendersonville-Support
• Henderson County-Support
• Advent Health-Resources
• Well Water Testing

We have the submission form up and running for the ShopWNC website (see link below). We will be entering data as it comes in with the plans to launch this publicly next week.

Please share this link with your Chambers and TDAs as well as any other communities in your region that may not be on the Main Street mailing list. Mark the email address shopwnconline@gmail.com as trusted in your contacts as future communications will filter through that email.

This site is for EVERYONE – not just Main Street communities. We need your help to spread the word. Any community and/or business in the highlighted map area on the site can submit their info.

There will be a page for each town and then people will click on that town to browse online stores, learn more about the community, view directions on how to get there and if tourism is currently open in that area. Please make sure to fill out all fields in the submission form.

What’s Next:

• DO NOT share the link on social or publicly until next Friday when we have some listings.
• Send the following link to your businesses to submit their listing. They must either be open for business physically at their location or have an online store. Even a Facebook page where people can buy gift cards is acceptable.
• Share this with other local towns, Chambers, and TDAs as well as any local organizations that may help us spread the word to businesses in the affected areas (see attached map for county reference)
• We will be collecting as many listings and communities as possible by next Wed to upload to the site for the initial launch on Friday Oct 18.
• If you have events happening, submit those by sending an invite to shopwnconline@gmail.com.
• Once launched, we will also be building out a blog area where you can submit itineraries for your community if you are open and accessible and if traffic to the area will NOT impede rescue or recovery efforts. Please be conscious of this.
• We will continue to enter listings and build out the site as submissions come in.
• We will continue to build out other pages such as donation campaigns, resources, etc. but our priority right now is to get communities and businesses listed

Let us know if you have any questions! Thank you for your support and attention. We know this is a busy time. There are number of people and organizations asking for a list of businesses they can help support so the sooner we can get this out there the better.

Visit https://www.shopwnc.com/ to submit your listing and help us spread the word to other communities and your businesses.

Hurricane Helene Parking Update

In response to Hurricane Helene, the City of Hendersonville will not enforce paid parking in downtown for the rest of October.  

However, safety-related violations will still be enforced, and citations will be issued for all the normal infractions. You'll get a ticket for things like: 

- Double parking 

- Blocking fire hydrants 

- Parking in crosswalks, loading zones, or fire lanes 

- Handicapped parking infractions 

We encourage everyone to support our downtown businesses as they recover! 

Also – don't forget about these special event parking reminders: 

Thursday, October 17 – Rhythm & Brews 

Caswell to Barnwell – No parking after 9am for event setup 
Barnwell to Allen – No parking after 1pm for event setup  

Thursday, October 31 -  Treat Street Carnival   
Allen to 6th Avenue - No parking on Main Street after 12 (noon) for event setup