Nearly $633 million approved for New York State Sandy victims - Los Angeles Local News, Weather, and Traffic

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved nearly $633 million to help individuals and families recover from Hurricane Sandy. 

FEMA is reaching out to all 13 designated counties with attention focused on the hardest hit areas of New York State. 

 Assistance to the hardest hit areas includes: 

• Bronx $1.4 million
• Kings $129.3 million
• Nassau $217.4 million
• New York $7.1 million
• Queens $165.2 million
• Richmond $65.9 million
• Suffolk $43.8 million

FEMA provides the following snapshot of the disaster recovery effort as of Nov. 23: 

• More than 225,000 New Yorkers have contacted FEMA for information or registered for assistance with FEMA and nearly $633 million has been approved. Almost 116,000 have applied through the online application site at or on their smart phone at m.fema.gov.
• 36 Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs) are open in the affected areas. These include mobile sites as well as fixed sites, and to date more than 47,000 survivors have been assisted at DRCs in New York.
• Nearly 1,300 inspectors in the field have completed almost 123,000 home inspections.
• 1,067 Community Relations (CR) specialists are strategically positioned throughout affected communities, going door to door explaining the types of disaster assistance available and how to register. More teams continue to arrive daily.
• 9 fixed feeding sites are being operated by the New York City Office of Emergency Management.
• 4 Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMATs), 1 Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) and 1 National Veterinary Response Team (NVRT) from the Department of Health and Human Services remain deployed in New York.·
• 13 New York counties are designated for both individual and public assistance, including: Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester.
• The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has staff members at 18 Business Recovery Centers in the New York area to provide one-on-one help to business owners seeking disaster assistance and has approved more than $18.7 million in disaster loans to both individuals and businesses.

Individuals can register online at www.disasterassistance.gov or via smart phone at m.fema.gov. Applicants may also call 1-800-621-3362. Multilingual telephone operators are available to help non-English-speaking survivors register for disaster aid and to get their questions answered. After dialing FEMA's registration/helpline callers should choose Option 3.

FEMA can provide translation/interpretation services over the phone.

People who have a speech disability or hearing impairment can call TTY 800-462-7585. Those who use 711-Relay or Video Relay Services may call 800-621-3362. 

The toll-free telephone numbers operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week until further notice.