Until July 1, North County residents seeking long-term recovery from damages caused by winter storms will be able to seek in-person assistance thanks to a new disaster recovery center set up in Templeton.
The center at the Templeton Community Center is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will assist businesses, homeowners, and renters who were affected by the severe winter storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides that began on Feb. 21. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently announced that SLO County was added to the list of California counties that were eligible to receive federal help for that set of storms.
“Residents who experienced damage to their homes or businesses can get help applying for federal assistance, disaster loans, update applications, and learn about other resources that are available,” according to the SLO County Office of Emergency Services.
SLO County Emergency Services Coordinator Rachel Dion said that this center—along with another one in Oceano that was open from June 22 to 26—is the second collaboration between SLO County, FEMA, and the state Office of Emergency Services.
“When looking at [disaster recovery center] locations with FEMA, we decided to choose a location in Oceano and Templeton so that North County residents wouldn’t have to drive all the way to South County and vice versa,” Dion said. “The damage from the storms wasn’t isolated to just one area of our county so our goal was to have the [centers] in locations that were easily accessible to all residents.”
Dion said that in addition to providing general information on disaster relief, the centers will also provide residents with the information and resources to potentially apply for federal and Small Business Administration loans.
Although the center in Templeton closes at the beginning of July, the deadline for residents to apply for FEMA assistance is July 20.
“Residents can still apply online for assistance at disasterassistance.gov or disasterassistance.sba.gov,” she said. “Our website recoverslo.org also has links to sites to apply for assistance.”
All of these resources, according to Dion, are part of SLO County’s long-term recovery plans, especially in North County where flooding caused damage that is still in the process of being fixed.
“North County saw many of our significant issues with roads—most notably the complete washout of Chimney Rock Road near Lake Nacimiento and significant damage to Santa Rita Road,” she said. “Both roads have been repaired to allow access, but work to permanently repair Chimney Rock Road is still ongoing.”
That ongoing repair is reflected across the county in other recovery efforts, but with pop-up information centers like those in Templeton and Oceano, Dion is hopeful the county and its residents can focus on the future.
“Financial assistance and recovery for individuals mainly occur at the federal level, but we can help facilitate that process,” she said. “Outside of that, the county’s current main focus for storm recovery is the repair of county infrastructure, [but] that recovery process will take years.” Δ
This article appears in Jun 29 – Jul 9, 2023.