People in all 19 counties also may be eligible for special unemployment benefits provided under the Disaster Unemployment Assistance program. This form of individual assistance is administered by the Washington Employment Services Department. The unemp loyment program is for people who have lost employment or income as a direct result of the disaster, including self-employed persons, farm owners and others not covered under regular unemployment insurance. Total registration for individual assistance reached 1,788 by the close of business Wednesday night, April 11. This money is given as grants to rent temporary housing or perform essential repairs to make homes livable.
Assistance is available for both renters and homeowners.
Washington Floods and Windstorms Individual Assistance Wrap-up on Page 4. The Washington State Emergency Management Division and FEMA have issued 1,249 home inspections for individual assistance and completed 1,238 through Tuesday night, April 30. Inspections are needed to verify damages and determine appropriate assistance f or each applicant. More than 900 disaster survey reports have been received by FEMA thus far. Public Assistance teams have contacted more than 200 governmental entities and written scopes of work for 1,000 damaged facilities.