ST. CROIX, Virgin Islands — The Disaster Recovery Center at the New Hotel Company Omar Brown Fire Station in St. Thomas will close permanently at 5 p.m. Saturday, and a new recovery center will open on Monday.
The new DRC will be located in Charlotte Amalie at the former Scotiabank, 81 CC&DD Kronprindsens Gade.
Like all recovery centers across the islands, it will be open Monday through Saturday from
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until further notice.
Recovery specialists from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) are available to help homeowners, renters and small-business owners register for assistance. The specialists can also provide information on the federal aid that is available, and answer questions.
Two other recovery centers are also open on St. Thomas at:
- Charlotte Amalie at Tutu Park Mall, 4605 Tutu Park Mall, Suite 233
- Estate Bordeaux at the Bordeaux Farmers Market, 109 East Bordeaux
Survivors have until the December 18 deadline to register with FEMA for assistance. Survivors with connectivity may register at DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 800-621-3362. Individuals who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY should call 800-462-7585 directly. Those who use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS) may call 800-621-3362.
These toll-free telephone numbers operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. (local time) seven days a week. Operators are standing by to assist survivors in multiple languages.
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Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-3362 (voice, 711/VRS - Video Relay Service) (TTY: 800-462-7585). Multilingual operators are available (press 2 for Spanish).
FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
Following major disasters, the U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is the primary source of Federal funds for long-term recovery assistance. This assistance is in the form of low-interest loans and is available to non-farm businesses of all sizes, private nonprofit organizations, as well as homeowners and renters with property damaged by the disaster.
For official information on the recovery effort following the hurricanes, please visit www.informusvi.com or www.usviupdate.com. Follow us on social media at twitter.com/femaregion2 and www.facebook.com/FEMAUSVirginIslands.
To donate or volunteer, contact the voluntary or charitable organization of your choice through the National Voluntary Agencies Active in Disasters (NVOAD) at www.nvoad.org. For those who wish to help, cash donations offer voluntary agencies the most flexibility in obtaining the most-needed resources and pumps money into the local economy to help businesses recover. The Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands also has the “Fund for the Virgin Islands” at www.USVIrecovery.org.