FEMA announced Thursday it would provide financial assistance to those who purchased or rented generators between July 5-20 because their electricity service was disrupted by the storm, which made landfall early July 8 near Matagorda Bay before passing almost directly over Houston.
The agency typically offers generator reimbursement costs only when it is used to power medically necessary equipment but is waiving that requirement in the case of Beryl, which left hundreds of thousands without power for a week or longer.
“It is unusual,” FEMA spokesperson Rebecca Kelly said of such a waiver. “The power outage was so extensive that FEMA has decided to activate this program in order to support this recovery.”
The assistance is available to eligible, impacted residents in the southeast Texas counties of Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Orange, Matagorda, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Polk, San Jacinto, Walker and Wharton. Applicants must provide itemized receipts or equipment rental agreements, and their generator expenses must not be covered by insurance or other sources.
The reimbursement amount will be up to the market value of a 5,500-watt portable generator, which can cost $3,000 or more, according to Kelly, who said Thursday an individual assistance limit had not yet been set by FEMA. It also had not been determined whether impacted residents could recoup the money they spent on fuel to power their generators, she said, adding that those costs should be included in applications for assistance.
Assistance applications can be made online at disasterassistance.gov or in person at any FEMA disaster recovery center in Texas, including the 17 locations that are currently open in the Houston region from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. A helpline also is available at 1-800-621-3362.
“Every receipt that you possibly have related to your recovery, please, please, please ensure that you have uploaded those (online) or talk to a recovery specialist or gone into a disaster recovery center and provided those documents,” Kelly said.
Generator reimbursement amounts will be determined on a case-by-case basis, according to Kelly. Once applications are completed fully and verified by FEMA, she said it “should take no longer than 2-3 weeks” for payments to be processed.
“FEMA can’t make you whole,” Kelly said. “We can get you on the road to recovery, and that’s our goal.”
