Kristi King, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – It’s not free money, but loans as cheap as 2 1/2 percent are being offered to people whose properties were damaged in September by Tropical Storm Lee.
The deadline to get the disaster loan money to make property repairs is Jan. 13, 2012.
The U.S. Small Business Administration also is offering loans to off-set the economic impact of severe weather related to the storm. The deadline for those loans is Aug. 14, 2012.
Homeowners, renters and businesses from Prince William County, Va. to Prince George’s County, Md. and points in between are eligible for the loans.
Reggie Parks, director of Prince George’s County’s Office of Emergency Management, emphasizes the money is a loan not a grant. Successful applicants will need to have appropriate credit histories and will need to arrange payment schedules to repay loans.
Tropical Storm Lee barreled through the region Sept. 8 and Sept. 9, on the heels of leftover rains from Hurricane Irene that hit the area in late August 2011.
Together, they dumped unimaginable amounts of rain. Largo, Md., for example, received more than 2 feet of rain in a 30-day period. In just three hours during Tropical Storm Lee, more than 7 inches of rain fell at Fort Belvoir, Va.
Four people died in floods in Northern Virginia.
Click here to apply for the SBA loans.
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(Copyright 2011 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
