RECOVER

DAMAGE ASSESSMENT

After The Disaster

After a storm occurs, it’s important to let the city know about any damage your home or business has sustained.

This helps the city bring much-needed resources into the area to help get Houston back up and running.

Call 311, visit houston311.org or make a report on the Houston 311 Mobile App if you experienced damage or flooding. You may also report things like debris or trees in city streets, street flooding, and drainage issues.

Assessing the Damage

Individual assistance helps families, individuals, and owners of small businesses recover from the effects of a disaster. After a presidentially declared disaster, the Individuals and Households Program is made available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the State of Texas. You can report damages by using a self-reporting survey called the Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool or Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool (iSTAT) to https://damage.tdem.texas.gov/. With the information from this survey, officials and partners can help identify resources that you need such as food, water, and shelter.

DISASTER RECOVERY CENTERS

All Recovery Centers in the City of Houston have closed. Check back after a disaster for updated Recovery Centers.

INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE

Individual Assistance

Following a large-scale disaster, FEMA may provide assistance to disaster survivors. FEMA assistance is not automatic, and may take a few days, weeks, or months to come through. For more information on this program, please visit https://www.fema.gov/assistance/individual.

Additionally, FEMA partners with other agencies to help meet the needs of disaster survivors. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) offers low-interest disaster loans to homeowners and renters in a declared major disaster area. You don’t need to own a business to apply for SBA assistance. To apply for this assistance, please visit the SBA website.

One form of individual assistance is the Individuals and Households Program (IHP). When the IHP is authorized, FEMA may provide eligible disaster survivors with financial and/or direct assistance to address their housing-related needs, as well as financial assistance to address other needs (referred to as Other Needs Assistance or ONA).

Disaster survivors
can apply for
assistance online,
via phone,
or in person:

Online: at https://www.disasterassistance.gov/ or through the FEMA mobile application.

Phone: by calling 1-800-621-3362. Disaster survivors who use a Text Telephone (TTY) may call 800-462-7585, and those who use 711 or VRS (Video Relay Service) may call 800-621-3362.

In Person:  by visiting a Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) or if a Disaster Survivor Assistance team member goes door-to-door in an area designated for assistance.

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