One month after a nor’easter struck New Jersey, U.S. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-8) today appreciated the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s announcement of disaster recovery centers in Passaic and Essex counties.

“It’s been a month since the storm hit. People affected by the heavy snowstorms last winter waited that long to get a disaster declared,” said Pascrell, who has been returning to flood-affected areas during the district work period. “Because of the responsiveness of officials on the federal, state and local level, we’ve been able to set-up the means to get people connected to the help they need as soon as possible. All we need is for people who need help to register with FEMA.”

The two Eighth Congressional District locations are:

Passaic County
Urban Enterprise Zone Office (at the Paterson Museum)
2 Market Street, 2nd Floor
Patterson, NJ 07501

Essex County
Senior Citizen Center
376 Hollywood Avenue
Fairfield, NJ 07004

Each disaster recovery center is staffed with FEMA, U.S. Small Business Administration and state agency disaster recovery specialists who are ready to help survivors through the recovery process.

 
Residents affected by the flooding are encouraged to register with FEMA before visiting a center.

 
To register for assistance, residents should call FEMA’s toll-free number, 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or TTY/TDD 1-800-462-7585 for the speech and hearing impaired (for relay service, call 711 or 1-800-852-7897) between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., seven days a week. Multi-lingual operators are available to answer calls during this time. Residents may also register online anytime at www.disasterassistance.gov.

 
At the Disaster Recovery Center, visitors can:

Receive information about different types of state and federal disaster assistance.
Get help completing low-interest loan applications from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for homeowners, renters and business owners.
Inquire about the status of applications for federal assistance.
May receive referrals to voluntary organizations to help with immediate unmet needs.
Learn cost-effective mitigation measures to reduce the impact of future disaster losses.
 

Until further notice, daily hours at each disaster recovery center are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The centers are closed Sundays.

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