TODAY: Telephone Town Hall on Disaster Aid and Preparedness

With the recent Philadelphia flooding caused by Hurricane Ida, I believe information about disaster aid and preparedness is more important than ever.

So I will be holding a telephone town hall on those topics today, Monday, Sept. 27 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. You can register here. (Many of you may have received a call about it on Friday -- if so, you should not need to register.) Or you can listen live starting at 5:30 p.m. at 888-480-3686 or online here.

I expect to be joined by representatives from the:

• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
• Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA)
• Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management (OEM)

I also held an information session earlier this month with the SBA to talk about federal help that is available through that agency for Philadelphia residents and businesses affected by the recent Ida storm and flood damage. This replaced a virtual town hall that was scheduled for that evening. You can watch the videos of that information session at these links: Part 1; Part 2.

You may also find this recent Philadelphia Inquirer article to be useful:

Enable alerts, create a plan: Emergency responders want you to prepare for the next Ida

There is now a presidential disaster declaration for Philadelphia for damage related to Ida, which means:

• Homeowners, renters and businesses can apply for SBA physical disaster loans – click here
• Small businesses can apply for SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans – click here
• FEMA disaster assistance is available – click here

For the latest updates from the city Office of Emergency Management (OEM), you can click here. Additional resources for recovery are also available on that website.

Evening & weekend phone hours: To serve you better, my Philadelphia office has expanded our telephone hours for constituents who have difficulty calling during normal work hours. If you need help with a federal issue, you can reach the office by phone (215-276-0340) on Wednesday evenings from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. You can also email the office by clicking here or fill out a federal privacy form for help with your case (if needed) by clicking here.

Staying informed: To keep up with information and services between these updates, I invite you to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – including updates on my Facebook and Instagram Stories. If you received this newsletter as a forward, click here to start receiving it straight to your own inbox.