HARTFORD — Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced October 10 that the US Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved his request for disaster assistance resulting from the May 15 tornadoes and severe storms that impacted portions of Connecticut. The declaration means that homeowners, businesses, and nonprofits in New Haven County and the contiguous counties of Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield, and Middlesex will be eligible to receive loans from the SBA to help with the costs of both physical and economic damages.

Loans up to $200,000 will be available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, which may include debris removal. Homeowners and renters are eligible for loans up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property.

For small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture, and most private nonprofit organizations, the SBA will offer Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster. The assistance is available regardless of whether the business suffered any physical property damage.

“I want to thank the SBA for granting our request – homeowners and businesses in these areas will certainly appreciate this assistance,” Governor Malloy said. “I encourage all interested applicants in the eligible counties to apply as soon as possible to utilize this aid that is being offered.”

Applications can be filled out and submitted online through the SBA website at [naviga:u]disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/[/naviga:u]. Alternately, applications can also be downloaded at [naviga:u]sba.gov[/naviga:u] and mailed to the SBA at the following address: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, Texas, 76155.

Those who have questions about the assistance can either call the SBA Customer Service Center at 1-800-659-2955 (1-800-877-8339 for those who are deaf or hard of hearing), or send an e-mail to [naviga:u]disastercustomerservice@sba.gov[/naviga:u].

In addition, the SBA will also open a Disaster Loan Outreach Center at the Southbury Training School (1461 South Britain Road, Southbury) to help people process applications and answer questions in person. The office will be open October 11-18 during the following hours of operation:

*Thursday, October 11, 11 am to 6 pm;

*Friday, October 12, 9 am to 6 pm;

*Saturday, October 13, 10 am to 2 pm;

*Monday, October 15, 9 am to 6 pm;

*Tuesday, October 16, 9 am to 6 pm;

*Wednesday, October 17, 9 am to 6 pm; and 

*Thursday, October 18, 9 am to 4 pm.

The deadline to return applications for physical property damage is December 10, 2018. The deadline to return economic injury applications is July 9, 2019.

The announcement of the SBA assistance for homeowners, businesses, and nonprofits comes in addition to the approval of a major disaster declaration in August for Fairfield and New Haven Counties from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that allows state agencies and municipal governments to apply for financial assistance to help pay for the costs incurred as a result of these storms.