FEMA says Monterey County flood recovery won’t be impacted by funding shortage

With people in Monterey County still receiving FEMA assistance for flood recovery, the agency addressed whether those efforts will be affected by their disaster funding shortage.

Chad Bowman with FEMA said on Wednesday, that the funding situation will not affect recovery efforts in Pajaro and the rest of the area. The agency is clarifying this, with the deadline to apply for storm assistance quickly approaching on Friday, Sep. 1.

FEMA's administrator Deanne Criswell said in a recent interview the agency's disaster relief fund is projected to run out around the middle of September.

As of Tuesday, Aug. 29, FEMA has had 3,208 individual assistance registrations and has approved over $6.7 million in Monterey County.

Bowman also addressed in at Monterey County briefing Wednesday what this funding situation means for other disasters, including Hurricane Idalia.

"We do not have an issue with the funds for any of the disasters that currently have been currently declared up to and including hurricane Idalia," Bowman said. "As far as the Pajaro and the county goes in the state of California with these disasters, there's going to be zero effect to the recovery efforts."

While the application deadline for our area is on Friday, Sep. 1, FEMA said they can still be reached after that date with any questions.

People can continue to apply on FEMA's website DisasterAssistance.gov.