By Heart of Illinois ABC

BLOOMINGTON – In the aftermath of late June’s Bloomington normal flood resulted in the U.S. Small Business Administration approval of a disaster declaration for McLean County.

Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, Rep. Dan Brady, EMA Assistant Director Cathy Beck and Mclean County Sheriff Jon Sandage updated the community on the disaster response.

The week prior the SBA had left the city after they sent time in person there. They still offered help to the community through loans.

“The SBA disaster assistance is really still ongoing for those who were impacted by the June flooding event. The deadline to apply for physical damage relief is Sept. 24th of this year and April 26th of 2022 for economic relief,” Davis said.

The damages caused by the flood did not qualify for federal support. This came almost six months after Davis urged FEMA to consider local impacts of disasters when determining federal aid.

“We have an unfair formula that still exists today. That leaves out downstate Illinois, because most of our population lives in the northeast corner of our state. Almost every disaster down state will not reach that threshold unless FEMA starts to do what my law says they can do,” Davis said.

Of the Bloomington residents that applied for loans, about 44 percent of the applicants received those loans.

Heart of Illinois ABC can be reached at [email protected].